I Am Not a Curse
by Snow32Lily
Summary: After Valka has been saved from death by a cure consisting dragon saliva it results in an unforeseen consequence for their daughter. Follows the first movie at chapter 4. Hybrid!Hiccup Female!Hiccup
1. Chapter 1: A Cruel Illness

**I came up with this story a while ago, in fact, around the same time I became infatuated with the franchise. I had scoured this site for some semblance of the night fury Hiccup I had in mind but no such hybrid came. I had found one, but the story wasn't very good in my opinion. So, I decided to just write my own story that I've had in my head changing and developing from inspiration, from many creators on this site, for almost 3 years.** **This is my first story so I hope ya'll like it.**

 **Okay, now on with the show!**

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 ** _Chapter One: A Cruel Illness_**

On the small isle of Berk disaster had struck; not the normal type of disaster, but one that didn't have the simple solution of swing your ax at it. In the chief's house was where his beloved wife, Valka, laid sick from an illness not even Gothi, their oldest and wisest healer, could find the cure to. Stoick cared for his wife the best he could those endless days, but when there was nothing left he could do, he was lost in his own mind. He couldn't lose Valka, she was his world; she was the one he could tell anything to. She knew things that not even Gobber knew, and was much better at advice to boot. But it wasn't just that, it was how she made him feel. He loved her more than anything, and vowed to protect her no matter what. A mysterious illness was the one thing he couldn't protect her from, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Stoick felt completely helpless. All he could do was watch her suffer, and it tore his heart.

It had already been a week since the horrible ailment took his wife, and they were still trying to find a cure, or something that could help her. Stoick was once again by Valka's side not caring about his cheifing duties at the moment when he heard Gobber barge through the door of his house with Gothi in tow.

"Stoick! Stoick, she's found something!" Stoick tried to ask what Gothi had found but Gobber wouldn't stop blabbing.

"Oh it's incredible, you wouldn't have even guessed-

"Gobber!" the chief shouted. "Care to share what this 'incredible' thing is?" he continued in a quiet but still impatient and frustrated tone.

"Oh ya, heh, sorry Chief."

Gothi then proceeded to draw in the dirt outside the house and Gobber read it out for Stoick.

"She says that while rummaging through her old books she had found a page describing a dragon with saliva that has healing properties. Much like the Buffalord's saliva that cured Scourge of Odin, I believe this dragon's saliva could heal your wife. Or, at the very least, help her to fight it off." Stoick was shocked to hear what he had just heard. He wouldn't lose his beloved wife; there was still a chance to save her, and he wouldn't pass it up. "What dragon is it?! Where is the beast?!" he exclaimed, now with hope in his eyes.

Gothi's face became solemn, for the dragon they seek would not be easy to find, nor will getting its saliva. Before Gobber translated, his eyes widened and his voice was one of shock and slight horror. "The dragon we will need is a Night Fury." he finally said after a moment of him staring at Gothi's writing.

Stoick, while a little taken back, did not lose hope. Instead his eyes shined with determination to find the elusive unholy offspring of lightning and death itself and save Valka before it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2: The Search

**Hope your enjoying the story so far. I decided to post all three chapters of what I would like to call the prologue of the story all at once to see how you like it as a bit of a test run. Please Review.**

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 ** _Chapter Two: The Search for the Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself_**

Stoick knew the search for his beloved's cure wasn't going to be easy or simple, so he made sure to bring a small group of some of his best men; after all, he still needed Berk to be guarded with the dragon raids still raging on, and any other enemy that could come to their shores.

His party included five men, including himself, making six, going on the perilous journey. He decided to leave Gobber behind as acting chief for the time being, as even though he could be a mutton head at times, he was still the only one Stoick could trust, as well as to keep an eye on his wife while he was away. Gothi had given him a location of the last known place a Night Fury was spotted; it was named the Isle of Night because of it, and that's where they sailed going as fast as the sea and winds could take them.

The journey to the isle was relatively easy, with little trouble except for the rare occurrence of a Scauldron, which thankfully payed them no mind. Once they reached the island, the search was on. The first day came with no luck, as well as the second, and Stoick was beginning to lose hope of ever saving his wife from death, fearing she may have already left for Valhalla.

As his men slept on their third night on the rocky island, he stared out on the horizon in the direction of Berk. The moon was out in its full state shining brightly over the waves. It only made him miss and hope for Valka's safety more. This night, so much like the one he shared with Valka not too long ago, brought him to the memory of when he asked for her hand.

They were spending the evening on the south side of the island on the beach sharing a small picnic he had prepared that day. It was nothing too impressive. A chicken only slightly burnt some bread, and ale he quickly grabbed at the last minute having forgotten he should bring a drink. Nonetheless, Valka enjoyed their dinner and they sat there until the sun came down and the moon had risen. That's when Valka had decided they should go for a little walk on the shore, and Stoick had no objection. The moment was perfect; everything about that night was actually. After about fifteen minutes he suddenly stopped their trek and turned to his beautiful girl friend to ask her the one question she had been hoping to hear.

Stoick was taken out of his thoughts when he thought he heard something coming from behind a few rocks not too far away from the mountains that inhabited the island. He decided to check it out for himself, not bothering to wake his men. After a short hike he came across a cave and thought he heard something growling inside. He stealthily peeked inside from a bolder not too far away from the cave, and what he saw made his heart sore. He spotted one Night Fury, thankfully, its scales as black as night and nearly invisible in the darkness, only seen from the light the full moon provided and the piercing green eyes it possessed. He quickly ran to his men waking them up and ordering them to hurry and follow him. Once they all reached the cave the Night Fury wasn't there anymore, instead three hatchlings in its place pouncing on each other. The Fury must have been their mother, and she must have gone for a quick hunt, leaving the three little demons alone.

"Why would it leave its babies all alone?" one of his men asked in a hushed voice.

"It most likely isn't far away, and will probably return soon. We need to move now." Stoick replied, thankful that their chances of getting the saliva had now risen. But they had to move fast, if the mother returned they would be dead in an instant. They quickly moved into the cave and two men easily restrained one hatchling while the other three kept its two siblings at bay so Stoick could extract the dragon's saliva and be out with no casualties.

The little Night Fury put up a fight, but being so small, didn't stand a chance. One man held it down, while the other held its mouth open so it couldn't chomp off the chief's hand. It squirmed, trying to escape their grasp but could barely move, their painful hold being so strong. The process was quick, and once Stoick had what he had come for they dropped the little Night Fury and hurried out of the cave, hoping the mother never saw them and they could return home as smoothly as they had come.


	3. Chapter 3: Unforeseen Consequences

**Please Review**

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 _ **Chapter Three: The Consequence of the Cure**_

Once the chief finally made it back to the shores of Berk, he wasted no time taking the saliva to Gothi for her to make the solution needed. He then rushed home to his beloved Valka, and prayed she was alright. Unfortunately, she only looked worse than when he had left two weeks back. Her skin was a deathly pale and her breathing labored. He sat next to her and took her hand gently. "Don't worry Val, everything will be okay. Gothi will be here soon with the cure, and you'll be all right. You'll be okay." He knew there was no guarantee the solution would work, but he couldn't handle the thought of it not healing her.

Gothi then came in and walked as quickly as she could over to the bed, handing the solution to Stoick. He gave it to Valka to drink, lifting her head as she was far too weak, barely able to open her eyes. They would have to wait to see if it worked, but Stoick swore he saw his beloved's breathing already returning to normal, filling his heart with hope and happiness at last.

The very next morning, Stoick was the happiest he could have ever been to see Valka feeling much better. As soon as he saw her with her eyes open, hearing her wonderful voice, he couldn't help but hug her as tight as possible wanting to never let go. About two weeks later, the village and Stoick were even happier to hear the news of Valka's pregnancy, and how the child seemed to be miraculously okay, it too surviving the illness that plagued its mother not too long ago. Stoick had not only saved his wife, but his unborn child as well, and he couldn't wait for his little survivor to arrive.

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About 8 months into the pregnancy everything seemed fine. Valka and her husband were enjoying a quiet dinner together when the horn was heard. Another dragon raid was going to fall upon them any moment.

Stoick grabbed his wife and quickly rushed her outside to the Great Hall where all the young, old, and mothers were hidden. "Stay here and be safe. I promise you everything will be fine."

"I know Stoick. But I should be more worried for you. You better return in one piece." They shared a quick kiss hoping it wasn't their last, and Stoick rushed out to protect his people and save the live-stock and food they needed to survive the winter.

It had been about thirty minutes and it didn't sound very good outside. Valka knew there would be more losses tonight and feared for her husband's life. She knew he would no doubt sacrifice himself for one of his people if he had to, and she prayed it wouldn't come to that. She placed a hand on her baby bump; she could not allow her child to grow up without a father. A loud explosion was then heard and the Great Hall shook. The children panicked screaming and Valka felt panic creeping in as well, fear taking control of her. She sat with the wee ones, huddled together hoping the raid would end soon.

Another five minutes passed, and the sounds of fighting finally stopped; the raid was over. Everyone rushed outside to return to their families hoping they were still alive and well. Valka found her husband quickly and embraced him with relief washing over both of them equally. Then, Valka said something Stoick hoped she hadn't at that moment. She grunted and wailed in pain and exclaimed in panic, "Stoick, the baby's coming!"

Stoick was in his home, Valka squeezing his hand with strength he didn't know she possessed. It was far too early for the baby to arrive; it wasn't due for another five weeks. He knew his child could very well be a runt; it may not survive its first few weeks. His suspicions were proven correct when the child finally arrived, and Valka's screams had at last ceased. The midwife warned it was indeed very tiny, and may not make it. However, that wasn't the only problem with the child. When Stoick was handed his new born child he looked at it with shock. The baby was a girl; she had beautiful forest green eyes like her mother and her auburn hair as well. But that wasn't what was shocking; what was also a part of her features was. She possessed black wings and a tail with two fins on the end, as well as two ears protruding from the top back of her head instead of human ears that should have been at the side, all covered in black scales. Instead that area was blank, only replaced with pale skin, as if nothing should have existed there. Her arms and legs also had some scattered patches of scales as well; the sight of the human skin meeting reptilian scales was a strange one, and unnatural.

He didn't know what to think when he handed Valka the creature she had just brought to the world. His daughter was clearly part Night Fury, from the features matching the ones of the dragons he had spotted when gathering the hatchling's saliva to save his wife. What he couldn't understand is how? How did this happen? Was this a curse brought forth by the gods? Why was his daughter part dragon?

Suddenly it hit the chief like a Gronkle charging at you in full speed. The saliva must have done something to his child while she was developing; besides for the gods placing some kind of curse, it was the only thing that made sense. He looked back at his wife and daughter, Valka seeming unfazed by how her child turned out. Valka looked up at Stoick after a moment of looking down at her beautiful little girl and knew immediately what her husband was thinking. He looked to be at war with himself at what to do their child in her arms.

"I know she's different Stoick but we can't get rid of her." She said with a soft but serious voice.

"But Val, she's part dragon. She can never fit into this village with a demon lurking inside her."

"How many times do I have to tell you dragons aren't demons?"

"Val, I know how you feel, but face it, allowing her to grow up could be dangerous. Berk could be destroyed, by her hand."

"Oh please you don't know that. For all you know she could end this war. Maybe this isn't a curse, but a blessing. Maybe the gods have sent her to finally bring peace."

That made Stoick pause. If he could stifle the demon inside her, and somehow bring a warrior out, she could indeed end the war. Being one of them, she could know their weaknesses, maybe find their nest, and bring those beasts down once and for all. "Your right Val, maybe she _can_ one day bring peace." he said looking down at their girl with a new found belief in her.

Valka knew her husband was thinking of a different peace then her. She knew that he was hoping for their little dragon girl to be the key to bringing the dragons down. But she hoped for a different peace. If she could teach their daughter to embrace the dragon side of her, if she could show her that dragons weren't the monsters everyone believes they are, then her daughter may just bring the Viking and Dragon worlds together. The fact that she was both species was only a sign to her. One day her half dragon, half human, child would bring humans and dragons together. Now her only fear was if their child would make it to age one or not.


	4. Chapter 4: This Is Berk

**So this is where the 'following the movie' starts. Hope you enjoy, and Please Review. I've also re-edited this, so if you've come back to see the changes, hope they provide the right insight needed.**

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 _ **This is Berk**_

 _(15 years later)_

Early in the morning, when the sun had not even risen, sat the quiet village of Berk. Not a one Viking was stirring that morning as they still lay asleep in their homes, except for one fifteen year old girl who sat in her room gazing out the large window over her bed. She was writing in her journal as she looked out to the quiet village.

 _This is Berk. Its twelve days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery._ _This is my village. If I had to describe it in a word, I'd say… sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and charming views of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, while most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have…_

Suddenly the horn was blown. "Dragons." the girl finished dryly.

Quickly, she rushed out of bed grabbing her black cloak and racing to the door only to be greeted with a blast of fire by a Monstrous Nightmare. Once she heard the Nightmare leave, unfortunately, with her superior hearing, she opened the door again and ran outside escaping her burning house. She also decided to mentally continue her entry as she ran through the chaos to the forge, pulling her hood down whenever she felt it slipping off even the tiniest bit.

' _Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings; we have stubbornness issues. My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.'_

Hiccup, dodging the flames and axes thrown around her, was brought out of her monologue when a Viking slammed into her.

"Ahhhhh…Mornin'", the Viking yelled in her face, only proving her point. She got up and continued both her trek and thoughts ignoring every one's shouts for her to "get back inside". Hiccup was then suddenly yanked by her arm by her father.

"Hiccup!? What is she doing out again?! What are you doing out?!" He didn't give her time to answer before he ordered, "Get back inside!"

Of course, after being shoved away, Hiccup didn't listen and only continued with what she had been doing before.

' _That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe, and also known as my extremely over protective father. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do.'_

At last she made it to the forge, passing by her practically second father, and mentor, Gobber. "Ah! Nice of ya to join the party. I thought you might have been carried off."

As she put on her apron she replied in the same sarcastic fashion, "Who me? Nah, come on! I'm _way_ too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all… this." To prove her point she said this while lifting a large hammer used as one of Gobber's replacement appendages, and followed by trying to show her muscles, or lack thereof, in a pose.

"They need toothpicks don't they", her mentor shot back. Hiccup merely replied to that comment with a look of 'ya okay'. This was a daily occurrence for the two. They would work and banter at the same time, donning their sarcastic or witty comments to one another in a casual exchange.

' _The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well...littler.'_

He was also one of the only few that knew of her secret—the others including her father, the mid-wife that helped bring her into the world, and Gothi—due to him always having to baby sit when her father was too busy. Not to mention the fact that she knew they wouldn't have been able to keep the secret for long even if her father had tried. Gobber had even made her diapers; custom made for the tail she hid under the cloak she always wore. She was half dragon; which species she'd never know. Any time she mentioned her dragon half, her father would either punish her or ignore her saying it didn't matter and to focus on keeping that side of her at bay. She never mentioned it anymore.

Near the forge, another house's roof was burned by a dragon's fire. ' _See, old village, lots and lots of new houses.'_

The fire brigade, which consisted of the teens on the island, went into action going in Hiccup's line of sight, of which she decided to describe each one, the first being a large blond boy. ' _Oh, that's Fishlegs; he was once my closest friend when we were little but over the past few years he's been avoiding me. I think I know why, seeing how I'm the runt and nuisance of the village, and no one would really want to be caught hanging out with me, but it still hurts.'_

Next came a muscle bound lad with black hair. ' _That's Snotlout, my cousin unfortunately; he's your typical Viking brute, valuing brawn over brain and always showing off any chance he can get.'_

After him, came a pair of twins fighting over a pale of water. ' _That's the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut; just as their names suggest they're a couple of nuts, always looking for trouble and wanting to make Loki proud.'_

Another blond pair of siblings, brother and sister, came into her sight next. ' _And that's Astrid and Aric*. Astrid is about a year older than her brother and while a lot more easy going, she's very determined and strong. She is training to join the Berk Guard as Berk's greatest shield maiden. It's probably the hardest goal she could have set for herself, and she probably doesn't want anything to ruin her chances. Hanging out with the village screw up would surely do that, so she doesn't really talk to me. Aric, on the other hand, is hard to read. At one point it seems like he's going to talk to me, or at least acknowledge my existence, but the next, he pushes me aside like bad mutton. However, truth be told, I do have a major crush on Aric. Even through that tough strong guy façade I can see he has a soft and kind heart. If only he would just notice me, or allow me to talk to him for more than a second.'_

A fire ball was fired at the house just as they had all unloaded their first buckets of water, and Hiccup simply couldn't help the goofy look spreading across her face seeing Aric looking so heroic leading his troop with a wall of fire behind him. She was pulled out of her day dream when Gobber pulled her away from the window by her cloak, luckily not revealing any scaly parts to anyone.

"Ah ah not so fast."

"Oh come on, let me out. Please. I need to make my mark."

"Oh you've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places."

"Please, two minutes, I'll kill a dragon; my life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date." ' _Hopefully Aric.'_

"Lass, you can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an ax…you can't even throw one of these", he exclaimed, lifting a bola, only for someone to snatch it from his hand and throw it at a passing Gronckle.

Okay true, she was weak, despite her father's hopes in her gaining some muscle when making her Gobber's apprentice, but that's what her skills for invention were for. "Okay, fine, true. That is very true, but this…" referring to her new bola launcher, "…will throw it for me." She thought the reveal would convince him, but just as she pat it, she accidentally set it off hitting someone in the face.

"See, now this here is what I'm talking about", her mentor exclaimed.

"Mild calibration issue—"

"Hiccup, if you ever want to get out there and fight dragons you need to stop all of…this."

"But you just pointed to all of me!" Hiccup was not liking this conversation one bit.

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you."

"Ohhhh…"

"Ohhhh…yes", Gobber mimicked.

"You sir are playing a dangerous game, keeping this much raw Viking-ness contained. There will be consequences!"

"I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpened. Now", her mentor responded dropping a heavy sword in her arms. She had no doubt if she had actually been trying, and if she perhaps growled or slited her pupils she would have been threatening, but she knew the consequences for allowing that side of her to show. No doubt Gobber would tell her father and she would be put in the cage again as punishment.

She hated that stupid cage; it was small and cold, and made her feel like an animal. Sure that was its purpose, but she still didn't like it. Her father had started using it since she was about five; any time she would act dragonish in any way, shape, or form, she'd be put in 'time out' for the night. Her father always told her "if you're going to act like a dragon, I'll treat you like a dragon." In retrospect it seemed to be a sound way to keep her monster at bay, but she still found it to be a cruel and unnecessary punishment.

She decided to stop thinking about that, rather focusing on sharpening the sword in front of her. But that only lasted a short time as her mind wandered to how she could prove herself to the village, and more importantly, _her father_.

' _One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a boyfriend. A Zippelback? Exotic, exciting. Two heads, twice the status._ _And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.'_

A loud, long whistle was heard, and Hiccup knew what it meant. ' _But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the—'_

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

Evidently everyone else heard the warning as well, taking cover for when the blast came. _'This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and...'_ the fast and elusive dragon shot one of the catapults with one precise ball of purple and blue fire ' _…never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury, and that's why I'm going to be the first.'_

Just as luck would have it Gobber was needed in the escalating fight for their livestock, giving Hiccup the perfect chance to try out her launcher on the Night Fury. She took off her apron and raced out the forge as fast as she could, yet again ignoring everyone's calls. Once she reached a spot where she could get a clear shot, she set the launcher up and waited. After waiting a few moments she heard the Night Fury's telltale whistle; it was faint, but she could still hear its warning, and she prepared to shoot. At last, the whistle grew louder and the dragon shot the catapult nearby giving her a split second to see it in the light it had created. She fired, and she saw it go down into the forest.

"Oh, I hit it." She couldn't believe it; she had actually hit the elusive creature despite all the odds, and she was ecstatic. "Yes I hit it! Did anybody see that?" With her back turned from the bola launcher at this moment, she then heard a crunch sound behind her. She turned around and saw a Monstrous Nightmare; oh just her lucky day. "Except for you", she said to it dryly. After that said she did the one smart thing she could do; she ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

She had made it back to town where she found a poll she could hide behind to catch her breath. The monster decided it best to fire anyway; luckily the poll protected her. Hiccup didn't hear the beast anymore, so she thought it might have gotten bored and flown off. She decided to check, but the Nightmare wasn't finished with her, sneaking up on her from the other side in her frightened and distracted state. Her father thankfully arrived just in time, beating the beast back from his daughter. It wasn't exactly much of a fight with the dragon having run out of fire, but by that point it didn't matter. The raid was over, and a lot of their livestock was gone thanks to Hiccup indirectly freeing the Nadders when her father had to go save her.

The poll she was hidden behind burned through and fell causing even more damage to the village, nearly crushing a few Vikings. All she could do was cringe at the sight and Hiccup could see her father's furious face even though her back was turned. "Sorry, dad…but I hit a Night Fury." She thought that would lighten his mood but evidently not.

He grabbed her roughly trying to drag her home, but Hiccup had to place her case. "It's not like the last few times dad, I mean I really actually hit it. You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down just off raven point. Let's get a search party down there and—"

"STOP! Just stop." At that outburst everything stopped, and everyone including Hiccup went silent.

"Every time you step outside disaster follows. Can you not see I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"

Feeling the pressure of everyone's eyes on her she tried to lighten the mood with her usual snarky comment. "Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding don't ya think?"

"This isn't a joke Hiccup!" Oh, that did more harm than good it would seem. Her dad was mad; really mad. ' _Hello cold cage, bye bye sweet comfortable bed.'_

"Why can't you follow the simplest of orders?" her dad continued.

"I can't stop myself; I see a dragon and I just have to… _kill_ it. You know? It's who I am dad."

Her father answered her, clearly tired and stressed, "Oh you are many things Hiccup, but a dragon killer isn't one of them." She should have known that excuse wouldn't have cut it. The conversation was clearly over, so she didn't even try responding. "Get back to the house. Make sure she gets there", referring to Gobber, "I have her mess to clean up."

' _Oh please yes, blame it all on Hiccup. It's not like the dragons did any destruction. Nope, it was all the freakish runt you've given up on's fault'_ , she thought quite bitterly.

As Gobber walked her back home, her head down, she walked past the group of teens from before. Of course Snotlout and the twins had to say something; they always teased and made fun of her.

"Quite the performance", Tuffnut said. And Snotlout just had to comment as well. "I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" he said.

"Thank you, thank you. I was trying so…" she sarcastically replied. Hiccup knew she probably shouldn't have said anything, but she couldn't help it. Her sarcasm was really her only weapon; well her only weapon she would, or could, use. As usual, Fishlegs, Astrid, and Aric, said nothing; the first two not even looking at her. Aric did, and she was grateful for that at least.

The walk home was a quiet one; neither Hiccup nor Gobber spoke a word the whole trip. Once they were on the hill the house laid on, Hiccup spoke. "I really did hit one."

"Sure Hiccup", Gobber responded.

"He never listens."

"Well, it runs in the family."

"And when he does, it's always with this… disappointed scowl, like someone skimped the meat on his sandwich." She continued her rant with an impression of her father, deepening her voice as best she could, having such a ridiculously high pitch, and adorned a Scottish accent as well.

"Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large child with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. Oh, and I'm also pretty sure it's _supposed_ to be HUMAN!" she screamed wavering off from her imitation.

"No, you're thinking about this all wrong. It's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand", Gobber, with all his wisdom, said trying to console her.

Hiccup merely stared at him with a dead panned face. "Thank you, for summing that up."

"Look the point is, you're trying too hard. Maybe it's time to stop trying to be something you're not."

Hiccup knew what he meant, but she couldn't. She could never do what he had just suggested. She didn't want to be a dragon, not even partly; she just wanted to be a Viking. She wanted to fit in. "I just want to be one of you guys." And with that she went inside leaving her mentor. After she closed the door, she paused for a moment and simply leaned on the wooden barrier, exasperated, and sighed. Her wings twitched and ached, so she took her cloak off for a moment to stretch them a little. It hurt to keep them so tightly pressed to her body for very long periods of time. She wished she didn't have to even worry about them. She wished she could just ignore the black menaces and pretend they didn't exist. But they did, and she hated them.

She put the cloak back on, pulling the hood up to hide every inch of her stupid scales, and her mind wandered to another black menace. She had to find that dragon, and if it wasn't already dead she'd finish it herself. This was her chance to prove herself. She grabbed her journal/notebook and rushed outside. This was her chance to prove once and for all that she was no dragon, and never would be. She can beat this curse. She was not a dragon; she was a Viking through and through.

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 ***Aric is pronounced as 'Eric' and means "eternal ruler". He is my replacement Astrid, but her name is still here, even if embodying a slightly different character. She still looks like her cannon counterpart though, and is still a strong shield maiden. I mainly added her to keep Snotlout's flirting in…no regrets.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Downed Dragon

**I've re-edited the 4th and 3rd chapters just to clean up grammar and also give some more insight and description I felt was needed that I had forgotten when I originally wrote them. In the 3rd chapter its just more description of Hiccup's appearance (her dragon parts/scales I forgot to mention) and in chapter 4 its a bit of a re-write on Astrid/insight.**

 **Now with that announcement out of the way, on with the story. Please review.**

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 _ **The Downed Dragon**_

Stoick was in the Great Hall with practically the entire village present, mostly the men of the tribe, however. He had called a meeting to discuss venturing out on yet another quest to find the nest. He had hoped by now Hiccup would have shown at least promise of helping them to achieve the goal he had set for her, but it seemed he had been wrong. She seemed to cause more trouble then helped, and at the rate she was going, may never bring up her end of the deal they had made eight years ago.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us!" he exclaimed to his people. "It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home." He stabbed the spot on the map where dragons had been drawn as if to emphasize his point. "One more search before the ice sets in."

"Those ships never come back", a Viking in the crowd pointed out to his chief.

Stoick didn't care though, determined to end the war. "We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard", he said. "Now who's with me?" The room was completely silent, save for a few stray comments. No one wanted to go on another pointless suicide mission.

"Today's not a good day for me."

"I've gotta do my ax returns."

"Alright, those who stay will look after Hiccup", the chief said, and as he expected every one's hands shot up. "That's more like it", he said dryly. It was of course an empty threat; he would never allow anyone but Gobber, or Gothi if the blacksmith was too busy, look after his daughter for fear they would find out about her secret before it was time. It was hard for Stoick to think— _to know_ —his child was hated across the village, but he had done all he could. There was just something wrong with the girl that he couldn't break through, and he knew what it was; he only wished he could eradicate it. It didn't help either that his daughter was practically a talking fishbone, barely able to lift a sword. Gobber told him often of her progress in the forge; he told him that she was brilliant, always thinking of new and different inventions, but no matter how much she worked with the heavy metal, she just wasn't getting any stronger. Stoick could only hope that she just needed more time.

All the Vikings left the hall which left Stoick and Gobber alone. "I'll go pack my undies", said the blacksmith, but Stoick had other plans.

"No, I need you to stay, and train some new recruits."

"Oh, perfect, and while I'm busy Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself…what could possibly go wrong?"

Stoick sighed. "What am I going to do with her Gobber?"

"Put her in training with the others", he responded as if obvious.

"No, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"She'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage."

"Oh you don't know that."

"I do know that actually."

"No you don't."

"No actually I do."

"No you don't!" Gobber shouted trying to get it through the chief's thick scull.

"Look…" Stoick began. "…You know what she's like. From the time she was…well born…she's been… different. Making those strange noises as a baby, her eyes changing when her emotions run high…"

"You know she can't help it."

"Yes I know that Gobber. But…ugh! The girl doesn't listen; she has the attention span of a sparrow… I take her out fishing and she goes hunting…for trolls!"

"Trolls exist! They steal your socks, but only the left ones. What's with that?"

Stoick simply rolled his eyes. Now he knew where his daughter got the idea from. "When I was a boy…"

"Oh here we go", Gobber said, preparing for another one of Stoick's tales of his childhood.

"…my father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it. I thought he was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache", he replied board, not really caring about Stoick's story.

"That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a child, I knew what I was, what I had to become…Hiccup is not that kid."

"Look Stoick, I know it seems hopeless, but truth is you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again; she's probably out there now."

Unfortunately, he had to admit, Gobber was right. And besides, maybe if he did put her in training, Gobber could somehow break through that barrier he never could, and bring out the Viking he always dreamed Hiccup could become. He knew it was a long shot, and there was no guarantee, but just like when he didn't know if the cure would work for Valka's illness almost sixteen years ago, it was the only hope he had.

* * *

True to Gobber's words, Hiccup was out again. She was searching for the Night Fury and so far had about as much luck as she had every day; none. She was marking yet another place that had no Night Fury in her notebook, and she was getting increasingly frustrated. As if the gods just wanted to ruin her day more, her cloak then got caught by a root sticking up from the ground; the end of her cloak left with a gash, and her hood slipping off, revealing her ears, and short cut auburn hair. It was an unconventional hair style, with her hair, that stopped at her collar bone, running free, but it was just more comfortable with her ears being in the way, and wearing a cloak almost 24/7. Trying to make a braid would just be a pain, and leaving long hair down would never do, so she kept it short. Besides, when was the last time Hiccup ever did something conventional?

Luckily, no one was out there to see her ears; the forest seemed to be one of the only few places she could find refuge from the village. With her ears out she could hear much further, and despite how much she despised their existence, she decided to use the ability. Using this ability wouldn't be wrong to find the dragon right? After all, it was helping her to find and kill the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, so she wasn't doing anything bad.

She listened out for a few moments straining her ears to hear as far out as possible, but she heard nothing but the creatures that lived in their forests. She continued wandering. "Oh, the gods hate me. First, they curse me, and then make it basically impossible for me to gain any strength, and now I can't even find a wounded dragon. Yep, some people lose their mug or their knife…no, not me. Instead I manage to lose an entire dragon!" In her frustration she slapped a low hanging branch that was in her way, only for it to swing back at her, slapping her back in the face.

"Ow!" she yelped, and then looked up at the tree to see it split in two. One half was still up right, while the other led down a trench. She decided to investigate, and went down into the trench. _'What could have done this?'_ she thought, but had a feeling she knew the answer. As she climbed the hill on the other side, her suspicion had been proven correct. It was the dragon; she didn't know what condition the dragon was in, so she took out her dagger from her belt, and carefully made her way down to the black demon. She paused behind a bolder preparing herself; she didn't think this would be so frightening when she left the house. As she made her way around the bolder to finally get a good look, she saw it completely downed, the ropes of the bola tangled tightly around it, and Hiccup's eyes widened with shock. It was either already dead or unconscious; she couldn't tell which.

"Oh wow. I did it", she said in shock.

"I did it! I actually did it, yes!" She placed her foot on the dragon's body and said in the mighty pose, "I have brought down this beast—ah! "

Just as she had said that, the dragon moved, shoving her off of him, and she fell back to the boulder in utter fear. Apparently the Night Fury was still alive, but she'd soon fix that. Once again, she carefully approached the beast, dagger out in front of her. She made it back to the dragon's side, and as she looked at its head she saw its eyes looking at her with the look only a monster could give.

"I'm gonna kill you, dragon. I'm gonna…cut out your heart and bring it to my father. I'm a Viking", she whispered. "I'm a Viking!" Hiccup again shouted at the dragon, repeating the words she spoke before. It was almost as if she was trying to convince herself more than the dragon. She positioned the dagger, ready to strike, when she looked down at the demon's eyes once more. She wavered; she hadn't expected to see what she had in those green irises.

Hiccup saw intelligence, fear, and even loneliness. She saw a being that had a life as much as her own. In other words, she saw herself. She tried to block the new wave of feeling out, focusing on the task at hand. All she had to do was bring the dagger down, but her arms wouldn't let her. The dragon then resigned to its fate, closing its eyes and laying its head on the ground with a final moan. She tried with all her might to go through with the deed, but she couldn't. Hiccup finally resigned and gave up, bringing her dagger back to her side and looking at the creature. It looked so ready to die, knowing its life was over.

She stepped back. "I did this", she muttered seeing what she had truly done. She was about to go home, but she turned back knowing that it would just die stuck here, and that would be no better fate. The next thing she knew she was cutting the creature free.

Hiccup couldn't believe what she was actually doing, thinking she was probably crazy, but she just couldn't bring herself to leave it. Her ears, and wings under her cloak, twitched with fear ready to flee as soon as it was free. But, as soon as the last rope was cut, the dragon pounced on her with speed she hadn't expected. It slammed her onto the ground right in front of the boulder that sat behind her, and looked at her with anger and fury in its eyes. This was it. Now she was going to die as revenge for what she had done. However, after what seemed like forever of those piercing acid green eyes staring at her, he reared up and only roared a piercing sound that made her think she'd go deaf, and dashed back into the forest flying kind of funny. Just as she had shown the dragon mercy, it appeared that the dragon showed her mercy in return.

Hiccup could barely breathe; she had betrayed her village's beliefs and had just come close to death, only for the dragon to do something no one had ever seen a dragon do before. She shakily got up, and only took one step before she fainted.

* * *

As Hiccup approached her home it was night already. She didn't know how she was going to tell her father that she couldn't kill dragons. It sort of made sense seeing as how she was technically part of their species, but she wasn't supposed to be. Hiccup was supposed to beat back that side of her, not embrace it. The only problem was it didn't feel like a monster was seeping through the cracks of her mind controlling her actions. She felt something when she looked into the dragon's eyes, but what that something was she couldn't figure out. She didn't know what she would tell her father, but she was tired, and confused, so she just opted for lying by omission; all she had to say was that she didn't want to fight dragons anymore. That she's given up on being a dragon fighting warrior, because she's too small and weak, and that would never change. Her father would believe that; it's not like that wasn't what he already thought of her anyway.

He probably had already given up on her ever achieving her end of their deal. Eight years ago, before Hiccup had started hated who she was, she had asked her father, yet again, why she had to always wear her cloak whenever she went outside. His answer was the one he always gave.

" _Because dear, people won't understand your dragon half and will only fear it. You have to hide this from the village, or I might be forced to send you away. Do you understand?" As usual Hiccup only nodded sadly. That's when her father made his proposal. "Tell you what. If you can prove to this village that you can be a real Viking and prove you will protect them as a chief should, then we can reveal to them what you've been hiding. Only then can we try to make them understand you're on our side. But until that day comes, you must make sure no one finds out about your dragon half, and keep these parts of yours hidden."_

She of course agreed to it at the time, but lately, she wasn't sure that even if she managed to bring up her end, she would be able to stop wearing her cloak and reveal herself. Her cloak and long sleeved green dress not only hid her scales from the villagers, but herself as well.

Hiccup opened the door to her house and she noticed her dad was unfortunately home. Hiccup tried to sneak past him, but he noticed her any way.

"Hiccup", he muttered as she tried to quickly crawl up the stairs. She paused and answered him. "Dad. I uh…I have to talk to you dad."

"I need to speak to you too, hun", her father replied standing up from his chair and facing her.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons" "I think it's time you learn to fight dragons", they both said at the same time.

" "What?" "

"You go first", her father offered, but Hiccup was too afraid of what her dad was going to say.

"No, you go first", she said.

"Alright. You get your wish; dragon training. You start in the morning."

"Oh man, I should have gone first…" Hiccup started quickly. "…Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings. But do we have enough bread making Vikings, or small home—"

Her father was clearly not listening handing her a large ax against her will. "You'll need this."

"I don't want to fight dragons."

"Oh, come on, yes you do."

"Rephrase. Dad, I _can't_ kill dragons."

"But you will fight dragons."

"No I'm really very extra sure that I won't", the girl scrambled. She wasn't sure how to make him understand. Her father thought she was ready, but after the day she just had she was clearly quite the opposite.

"It's time Hiccup", her father stressed.

"Can you not hear me?!"

"This is serious dear! When you carry this ax…you carry all of us with you", he said in a soft voice, which than became stern once again. "Which means you _walk_ like us, you _talk_ like us, you _think_ like us. No more of…this."

"You just gestured to all of me", Hiccup dead panned.

Her dad merely ignored her. "Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one sided." _'Like all our conversations seem to be.'_

"Deal?!"

"Deal", she sighed.

"Good. Train hard, I'll be back. Probably."

"And I'll be here. Maybe." With her ax she followed her father out to see him off, along with everyone else and their fathers, as a sign of respect. All the while, she wondered what she was going to so now.


	6. Chapter 6: Discovering Dragons

**Finally I get to write some lines for Astrid (my Astrid, not Aric). And don't worry she does play a small role in the story; I had to give her character some substance right.**

* * *

 _ **Discovering Dragons**_

The next day all the young teens gathered for training in the arena. As Gobber saw all the kids arrive, he opened the gate. "Welcome to dragon training!"

"No turning back", Hiccup heard Aric say.

"I hope I get some serious burns", Tuffnut also commented, followed by Ruffnut. "I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back."

"Yeah, its only fun if you get a scar out of it", Astrid muttered.

"Yeah, no kidding right? Pain; love it", Hiccup sarcastically said, unable to resist, and making her presence known. She heard many groans as a response.

"Who let her in?" Tuff asked, of which was left ignored and unanswered when Gobber interrupted. "Let's get started! The recruit who does the best will get the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village."

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify her or…?" Snotlout joked, followed by laughter along with some of the other teens, the other few chatting.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings", Tuffnut once again commented.

Hiccup wasn't really paying attention to them, though, worrying about if she'd survive the lesson. She was very aware of how Gobber taught, and was certain this would be no different. Said man, seeing Hiccup's tense and worried face, tried to give out his support to her. "Don't worry; you're small, weak, and half their kind. That'll make you less of a target; they'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking like teens instead." It did little help to sooth her nerves. He led her to where everyone was lined up, and began their first lesson.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight", Gobber began, and as he spoke Hiccup could hear the dragons' roars and growls; although, while everyone else just heard unintelligible growls grunts and clicks, Hiccup heard it as a language; one that she didn't know one word of. At this revelation, as a child, she suspected the dragons must have had a language to communicate with one another, of which she had decided to dub Dragonese, but opted to ignore it beyond that.

Gobber began listing the different types of dragons, and Fishlegs was bouncing and giggling with excitement next to her.

"The Deadly Nadder,"

"Speed eight, armor sixteen", Fishlegs muttered under his breath. But as the list went on he couldn't stop his voice from getting louder.

"The Hideous Zippleback,"

"Plus eleven stealth, times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare,"

"Attack eight, venom twelve."

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" Gobber shouted at him, but then in a calm manner introduced their first opponent. "And…the Gronckle."

"Jaw strength eight", the boy whispered to her, even if she didn't really care that much. _'At least he talked to me.'_

Snotlout then panicked. "Woah wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?!"

"I believe in learning on the job." And with that he pulled the lever down freeing the Gronckle from its cage. It came barreling out towards them, as the children scattered, yelling something Hiccup didn't understand.

"Today is about survival; if you get blasted you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?"

"A doctor?!" I shouted out.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs guessed.

"A shield", Aric smartly and confidently said.

"Shield, go!" Gobber instructed.

Everyone raced to grab a shield, and of course the twins had to get into a fight about one shield they both wanted. It ended with them both getting the shield between them blasted. The first two trainees of the seven were out.

"Those shields are good for another thing; noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim. As the teens began to do what Gobber told them, Hiccup was afraid it might affect her like it was affecting the Gronckle. But, as the Gronckle looked disoriented and confused, Hiccup didn't feel anything. _'Guess what ever dragon I am doesn't have that weakness.'_

"All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronckle have?"

"Five?" Snotout guessed.

"No, six!" Fishlegs corrected.

"Correct", Gobber said. "That's one for each of you."

Fishlegs, distracted, had his shield blasted away, and now only five remained with four shots left.

"Fishlegs, out." Gobber saw Hiccup hiding behind a wooden barrier. "Hiccup, get in there!" Just as she was about to comply, however, the Gronckle shot a blast at her, and she went back into hiding. Four shots remained.

Although they were all in a very tense situation requiring focus, Snotlout found it was the perfect time to start flirting with Astrid when she tumbled to a spot in front of him. "So anyway I'm moving into my parent's basement. You should come by and work out. You look like you work out—" Astrid was about to tell him off, when the Gronckle's blast hit both their shields, as hers was right next to his when she turned.

"Snotlout, Astrid, you're done!"

"Oh come one!" Astrid exclaimed in fury.

Hiccup had finally come out of her hiding spot and found Aric rolled to a stop next to her. "So, I guess it's just you and me then huh?" she said.

"No, just you."

Aric rushed away, and Hiccup found her shield blasted out of her hand, nearly making her hood fly off. She ran to go grab her shield but it kept rolling away from her, and the Gronckle was on her tail, preparing to shoot its last shot. In panic she cornered herself at the wall and the dragon was just about to shoot her head off when Gobber hooked its mouth away causing it to miss.

"And that's six." He led the dragon back to its cage. "Go back to bed you over grown sausage. You'll get another chance, don't you worry. Nice work Aric." He turned to everyone and exclaimed, "Remember a dragon will always…" he turned to Hiccup with a stern look, "…always, go for the kill." He hoisted her up onto her feet, and everyone left the arena except for Hiccup. She stared at the mark where the dragon had almost killed her, and her mind wandered to the Night Fury. If Gobber's statement was true, then why did it spare her?"

She decided it best to go investigate; for what, she wasn't certain. The dragon was most likely long gone, but she went anyway. She came upon the scene in which she and the dragon showed mercy, and picked up one end of the bola that the Night Fury was once tangled in. "Why didn't you?" she asked.

She put the bola down and walked in the direction she saw the dragon fly in. A low hanging branch then swiped her hood once again. _'What is it with this forest wanting my cloak gone?'_ She didn't bother to pull it back up though too transfixed on what she had just stumbled upon. She had just come to the beautiful cove she often escaped too when she was upset as a child, either from something her father said or did, or from the other kids bullying her. And at the entrance lay black scales no doubt from the Night Fury. She picked one up and studied it; it felt and looked so much like her own scales, the only difference being that hers had a little more of a blue tint. She was knocked out of this strange discovery when something shot up near the entrance. It was the Night Fury; she found it, and she took the opportunity to get a good look of it too. She went down some of the rocks to where she could get a better view and took out her notebook to sketch the dragon. As she did this she started to notice the dragon's features were familiar—too familiar. After she was finished she realized why; the Night Fury's ears, tail, and wings were identical to hers. _'I'm half Night Fury. Well that explains why my dad never told me.'_

The dragon seemed to be flying up the cove only for it to fall back down; it was a pattern, almost as if it couldn't get out and wouldn't give up with each failure. "Why don't you just… fly away?" she silently asked.

Then she realized something else; unlike her tail, the Night Fury only had one fin. She smudged out the left tail fin of the dragon's sketch. Was that why it wouldn't fly? Was it not _able_ to fly out? The dragon had seemed to give up at this point and went to the lake only for the fish there to evade him. She started to feel bad, and when her grip on her charcoal pencil loosened it fell out of her hand with a light clatter down into the cove. The dragon of course noticed and looked up at her with what she could only guess curiosity in its eyes. She titled her head in wonder, her ears involuntarily perking—despite the fact the movement was involuntary, it was the first time she'd actually moved them in years. The dragon copied her, cocking its head to the side as well and perking its ears up in the same fashion. They stared at each other for a few moments until Hiccup had decided it was time for her to go back.

When she reached the Great Hall for dinner, Hiccup was soaking wet from the rain that had started as she was walking through the forest. She entered as Gobber was going over what each trainee did wrong; apparently she was late.

"Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

Instead of having the others answer she did so herself. "Well besides for allowing a mutton-headed idiot to distract me, I mistimed my summersault dive. It was sloppy and threw off my reverse tumble."

"Ya, we noticed", her brother sarcastically commented. It was answered with a light shove.

"No, no you were great", Snotlout said in an attempt at wooing her once again, "That was so 'Astrid'."

"She's right", Gobber said intervening, "You have to be tough on yourselves."

As Hiccup approached they all finally noticed her. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

The teens answered as expected while blocking any open seat at the table. She didn't know why they thought she'd sit with them; as usual she sat at an empty table nearby. As she did so Aric said his critique. "She's never where she should be", he said quite harshly. _'Well that stung.'_

"Thank you Aric", Gobber said thankful someone answered in an actual helpful manner. "You need to live and breathe this stuff." He dropped a rather large book onto the table. "The dragon manual; everything we know about every dragon we know of." Thunder sounded outside, and they could hear rain pouring down hard. "No dragon attacks tonight. Study up." With that Gobber left.

"Wait you mean read?!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"While we're still alive?!" Ruffnut finished.

"Why read the words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" Snotlout brilliantly stated. _'So you can know what you're up against giving you a better chance to live.'_ Hiccup answered in her head.

With all the talk about the Book of Dragons Fishlegs couldn't contain himself any longer. "Oh! I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face, and there's this other one that buries itself for like a week—"

Tuffnut promptly shuts him up with the gesture of 'be quiet'. "Yeah, that sounds great. There was a chance I was gonna read that…" "But now…" Ruffnut finished.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff", Snotlout said, and began to leave. Everyone else followed leaving the Great Hall to turn in for the night. Astrid, Aric, and Hiccup were the only teens left. Hiccup approached the table where the siblings sat. "So I guess we'll share?"

"Already read it", Astrid replied. She stood up and headed for the door. "Come on bro." Aric left without even saying a word, and Hiccup was once again alone. "Wow, all mine than. Great", she sighed. The hall cleared out rather quickly, and Hiccup decided to read the book to herself with a few candles as her only light as the fire in the pit was put out.

"Dragon classifications: Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class…Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range…extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

She turned the page to a Sharp class dragon. "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees...extremely dangerous, kill on sight." As she kept flipping through the book, the dragons just got more dangerous and deadly, beginning to scare her. The message of 'extremely dangerous', and 'kill on sight' seemed to be written on every page she turned to.

At last she turned to the page of the Night Fury. There was no drawing, and not much, if anything, seemed to be known. "Night Fury", Hiccup said in awe. "Speed unknown, size unknown; the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself. Never engage this dragon, hide and pray it does not find you." _'And that's what I am.'_ That scared Hiccup, and she still couldn't get passed the fact that the dragon didn't seem all that ferocious and blood thirsty as the book made it sound. She pulled out her notebook, turning to the page with the dragon's sketch, and dropped it on to the page of the 'Night Fury'. _'I have to learn more.'_ Hiccup's curiosity sometimes caused more trouble than good, but she simply couldn't rest until she knew more about that dragon.

* * *

 **Remember to leave a review. Even just a small comment would be nice too; I just like to know what my audience thinks.**


	7. Chapter 7: Forbidden Friendship

**Forbidden Friendship is one of my favorite scenes and songs on the soundtrack, so it was a lot of fun to finally write it using my Hiccup. Gets ready for some character development with her here. Hope ya'll enjoy.**

* * *

 _ **Forbidden Friendship**_

The following morning, the recruits were up against another dragon; a Deadly Nadder this time. But, while all the other teens were running around trying to evade the spiked dragon, using the walls that had been set up, Hiccup was asking Gobber, who was outside the arena this time, as many questions as she could. "You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book, or a sequel, maybe a Night Fury pamphlet?" Before Gobber could answer her, though, the Nadder's fire took the head of her ax, causing her to start running.

"Focus Hiccup! You're not even trying", Gobber yelled into the arena. "Today is all about attack. Nadders are quick and light on their feet; your job is to be quicker and lighter."

The Nadder spotted Fishlegs; he shielded himself from its blast using one of the walls, and then ran away screaming, "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!"

"Look for its blind spot", Gobber instructed looking board. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike."

The twins used the advice when the Nadder approached them, but ultimately failed when the two began to bicker once again. "Do you ever bathe?" Ruffnut whispered, not liking the smell emanating from her brother.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot", Tuffnut responded shoving her back.

"How about I give you one!" They were stopped when their movement and noise made the Nadder realize where the two were. They just barely escaped its blast of fire.

"Blind spot, yes; deaf spot, not so much", Gobber joked. As Hiccup ran past she stopped once again to ask her questions. "Hey, so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" she asked.

"Your father's the only one to have met one and live to tell the tale. Now get in there!"

"I know, I know, but hypothetically—"

"Hiccup", Astrid whispered, gesturing for Hiccup to crouch down behind the wall like her and Snotlout who the poor girl couldn't seem to lose. Hiccup did so and the two in front of her did a roll to sneakily go by the dragon to stop behind another wall, although, when it was Hiccup's turn her large wings and shield stopped her from completing it and she was pulled back with a thud. The Nadder spotted her, saying something in its language, and she scrambled to get away.

Astrid was just about to go and strike at the dragon with the sword her father gave her, when Snotlout barreled his way through and stopped her. "Hey!" she shouted.

"Watch out babe I got this." He threw his hammer and missed the Nadder by a mile. Astrid simply glared at him. "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid. What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have the time right now!" She ran fast trying to evade the Nadder's attacks, eventually leaping into Aric. Now they were both in trouble, but the dragon soon stopped chasing his sister, for him instead.

Hiccup was once again standing bellow Gobber. "They probably take the day time off, you know, like a cat." She did remember being more active and alive in the night after all, before her father forced her to have a normal sleep schedule. "Has anyone ever seen one napping?"

Gobber didn't answer though, instead seeing what was storming towards Hiccup. "Hiccup!" he shouted. She spun and saw the Nadder was knocking all the walls down in its pursuit for Aric, and the boy had jumped off one straight onto Hiccup. His ax became stuck in her shield and he was trying to pry it out, not noticing how he was hurting her.

"Ooh love on the battle field!" Tuffnut teased, and of course Ruffnut finished. "He could do better."

The Nadder was coming towards them and Aric was becoming frantic. He ripped the shield off her arm, and in the last second, slammed his ax-shield at the Nadder's nose. It screeched, and scurried off.

Hiccup was curled into a ball on the ground, and when she peeked out she saw a very pissed off Aric. "Is this some kind of joke to you?! Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on." He stormed out with everyone else following leaving Hiccup feeling like the biggest failure in the whole archipelago.

Her thoughts traveled to the Night Fury in the cove once more, and she decided to go see the dragon again. If she wanted to learn more about the creature, she'd have to do it herself.

Hiccup thought the Night Fury might appreciate a fish, seeing how it struggled the day before, so before heading out to the forest she grabbed one from the Great Hall. A nice cod would do; she found that it was her favorite, and maybe it would be the dragon's too if they were part of the same species. She took the cod, and headed out to the forest taking a shield with her too just in case.

Once at the cove, all Hiccup had to do was pass through two rocks that acted like a narrow door way. Still terrified of the dragon, though, she threw the cod as far as she could into the cove. It wasn't very far, and didn't instigate a reaction; Hiccup had to go in herself. She tried to pass through with the shield up, only for it to get stuck in between the two pillars of rock. She attempted to yank it out, but it wouldn't budge. She went under the shield to the other side, but it still wouldn't move; it was stuck. _'Well so much for that plan.'_ Without her protection, she picked up the cod and ventured further into the cove. After a few moments of searching for the dragon she felt like someone was watching her, and when she turned around she was proven right. The Night Fury had been stalking her, and now it was warily coming closer.

Remembering her offering of food she stretched out her hand for the Night Fury to take it. The Night Fury, once again, carefully came closer to her eyeing the fish. But then it stopped and growled at her, startling Hiccup, and she pulled her hand back. The Night Fury was looking at her as if she was pulling him into a trap, and he wouldn't fall for it. For a moment she didn't know what had happened almost wishing she could understand Dragonese, but then she remembered her dagger. It must have seen it under her cloak and short fur vest. Carefully and slowly, she pulled the dagger out of her belt making sure the dragon could see her every movement with the weapon. She stretched her arm away from her body to the side and dropped it with the point down. It didn't seem to satisfy the creature; he gestured with his head for her to throw it away, and using her foot she tossed it into the lake. That was all it took for the fearsome dragon to immediately calm and look almost like an adorable kitten waiting for its food. She offered the fish again and it came towards her with its mouth open to take the fish.

The dragon appeared to have no teeth, but that couldn't be right. She saw its teeth just a few seconds ago when it threatened her. "Huh, toothless; I could have sworn you had…" The dragon's teeth sprung out and it took the fish from her hands. "…teeth", Hiccup said stunned.

The dragon looked to her again and began to stalk towards her cornering her at a rock when she panicked and tripped over her own tail trying to back away. "I don't have anymore." The Night Fury then began to make a sound that sounded like it was choking. Out of its mouth came half the cod she had just given it straight into her lap. "Eck." She looked at the fish in her lap with disgust. The dragon sat back on its haunches and stared at her waiting for something. Not knowing what it wanted, she just awkwardly sat there looking back, and seeming to understand that she didn't know what to do it looked down at the fish and then at her. Now she understood; it wanted her to eat the raw, saliva covered fish. She had had urges occasionally to eat raw fish, but never acted out on them knowing that was her dragon half seeping through.

Hiccup could admit, however, that she always wondered what it would taste like, and if she could eat fish raw without getting sick. But, she wasn't too happy about eating one that had just been in a dragon's stomach. Sighing, and knowing she didn't really have much of a choice, she picked up the fish and took a bite. It tasted worse then she thought it would; it was slimy and tasted of mud and something else she couldn't identify. She wanted to spit it out, but did not want to offend the dragon sitting in front of her. To try to show she appreciated 'the gift' and liked it she smiled and hummed with approval, holding the fish out. The dragon then made a gesture to swallow. _'Oh come on!'_ Trying her very best not to gag, Hiccup forced herself to swallow the vile stuff, shivering with disgust afterwards. The Night Fury looked pleased, and she forced a toothy grin on her face to show she enjoyed its 'gift', her very sharp fang like canines showing.

The Night Fury looked intrigued, and began to copy her pulling its lips into a gummy smile. It looked a little odd, but was also fascinating, as well as a little cute. Hiccup's forced smile wavered into a look of wonder, and she was for some reason compelled to pull her hood down. Slowly, she did so, and she could see in the dragon's eyes that he was happy to see her do that. She slowly came closer to the dragon holding her hand in an attempt to touch it, but as soon as her hand came too close, the dragon's teeth sprung out and his smile turned into a snarl.

The Night Fury flew off and glided to a spot on the other side of the cove, of which Hiccup followed. She no longer felt in real danger around the dragon, and she wanted to see if she could touch him. How did she know it was a him? Hiccup just had a sense to know each dragon's gender. She never knew why, and didn't think about it very often, if at all, but she had always just known what gender a dragon was by simply looking at it.

Hiccup sat cross-legged on the grass next to the dragon, and once he saw her, he didn't appear to be too happy, grumbling something. He wrapped his tail around himself obstructing his view of her, and she took the opportunity to try and touch his tail. Unfortunately, the Night Fury sensed her and lifted his tail to look at her as if saying, 'what are you doing?!' She quickly sprung up and walked away. The Night Fury stood up as well and walked to a tree where he took his nap hanging upside down like a bat.

Hiccup didn't really have anything better to do so she waited for the dragon to wake up. She went over to the lake and saw her reflection, and for the first time she wasn't so appalled by what she saw. She took the rest of the cloak off revealing her wings and tail. She still didn't move them, but she didn't feel the hatred she once did for so many years. She didn't understand why, but she knew it had to have something to do with the dragon. It was as if he made her feel less of a monster or freak; he never looked at her with real hatred or disgust, even when he saw her ears; only intrigue and wonder like her. It was also clear by now that dragons were maybe not what Vikings always believed.

It was now sunset and she was sitting on a rock, with her tail lazily draped behind her, drawing the Night Fury in the dirt. As she was doing this she didn't notice the dragon had woken up and was now approaching her. Once he had reached her, she could see him out of the corner of her eye. It startled her, but she ignored it and kept drawing the dragon's face. The dragon only sat next to her and watched, and then he got an idea, and left to go grab a small tree from the ground. Hiccup turned when the dragon began to leave her side and saw him do this; her ears sprung up in curiosity. He brought the tree through the dirt as if drawing as well. He went around and around drawing lines in a methodical but playful way, and then stopped to look at her. _'Is he…drawing…me?'_ He began drawing again and accidentally wacked her with the branches of the tree when going passed her for the second time. At last he was finished, and looked quite satisfied with what he had done.

Hiccup couldn't see what the dragon had drawn being in the middle of it, so she moved to get a better look only to step on one of the lines and receive a growl from the dragon. At first Hiccup was confused, unsure of what she did wrong, until she decided to lift her foot from the line she had just stepped on. The dragon instantly calmed as if saying, 'good, thank you'. Hiccup, thinking it would be fun to mess with and tease him, placed her foot back down on the line and then removed it. She did it one more time before stepping over the line. The dragon looked even happier that she had finally listened and she smiled back, her ears perking with it. She then began to step over the maze of lines. It was almost like a dance, and her tail began to sway with it.

She instantly stopped, her ears flattening down in sudden fear and surprise, when she felt the dragon's breath ruffling her wild hair. She warily turned and looked up at him; he did the same, only down. Carefully and slowly she once again extended her hand out, only for the same reaction of 'no' to come again. Then, she came up with an idea; she extended her hand one more time, but turned her head away as well, giving her complete trust to the Night Fury. The next thing she knew, she felt the dragon's scales against her palm; the feeling that jolted through her was incredible and indescribable. She turned her head to face the dragon again, and the dragon opened it eyes removing his snout from her hand, and then rushed off with a huff. She wasn't one hundred percent sure, but she thought that this was possibly the beginning of a friendship. She grabbed her cloak and put it back on, then began to make her way through the forest, into the village. "Good bye, Toothless" she called before climbing out of the cove and heading home.


	8. Chapter 8: A New Tail and New Fame

_**A New Tail and New Fame**_

Just as Hiccup made it out of the forest and into the village, she was found by Gobber and dragged to join him and the teens on one of the abandoned catapults for a campfire like dinner. She reluctantly complied and once there grabbed a fish from the basket of food provided; everyone else chose the chicken. Before she sat down, however, her curiosity got the best of her. Making sure no one was looking she decided to try the raw fish that hadn't been in a dragon's stomach. She took a bite and the taste was one thousand times better than the fish Toothless gave her. She still went to cook it though, because it was still what she was used to and liked, and 'humans' don't typically eat raw fish.

She sat down next to the fire, the stick holding her fish in the portion she bit, and Gobber began telling his stories that she'd heard one hundred times before. She wasn't really paying attention, instead becoming lost in her own thoughts about what had happened that day.

"…and with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole. And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg."

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something", Fishlegs wondered.

"I swear I'm so angry right now. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight…with my face", Snotlout stated. Astrid and Aric both looked at each other with deadpanned faces and rolled their eyes.

Gobber, as their instructor, had to correct him. "Un-unh. It's the wings and tails you really want. If it can't fly it can't get away; a downed dragon is a dead dragon."

That made Hiccup's thoughts come to a screeching halt. Toothless' left tail fin was gone; he really _couldn't_ fly out without it. And it was all her fault. She had to fix it; she had to make things right. She had to make him a new one. With that thought in mind, she wasted no time to get started. She abandoned her dinner and raced to the forge to get started unaware that Aric noticed her leave and curiously stared off in the direction she fled.

Hiccup made it to the forge and into the back room that Gobber had given to her if she wanted some place to ever escape to. The desk and walls were littered with notes and unfinished blue prints. She immediately took her note book out and re-drew Toothless' left tail fin determined to make it reality.

Using her own tail as a guide, and readjusting the size for the Night Fury's, she had a blue print of what she needed to do to make it, and she began doing so. It took all night, but she was finished and all she had to do now was see if it fit and test it. Grabbing a basket full of fish and the prosthetic she went to the cove.

"Hey, Toothless," Hiccup called in a sing song voice. When she named him that the previous evening he didn't seem upset over it. She wished she could ask him his real name, or if he had one, but until she learned Dragonese, 'Toothless' would have to do. It would just be rude to keep calling him 'dragon' or 'Night Fury'. "I brought breakfast. Hope you're hungry." She slung the basket onto the ground and tipped it over with her foot spilling all the slimy fish out. "Okay, that's disgusting."

Toothless dived into his meal, beginning to devour each and every fish. Hiccup, inching toward his tail, began listing what she had brought him. "Uh…we've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." At the mention of the eel Toothless began to hiss at what was in the pile. Hiccup picked the eel up, and he reared and screeched in fear of it. She panicked, "No, no, no!" and threw it away.

"Ya I don't like eel much either. Makes me sick, you know?"

She remembered the first time her father had her try eel. It was not a pleasant day for either of them; only a few moments after she took her first couple of bites she began to feel terrible and started throwing up constantly. The smell of puke was very potent around the house, and it was disgusting. She was stuck in bed for the rest of the day. They thought that it might have just been bad, so the following week he had her try the animal again only for the same thing to happen again. That day they both vowed she would never eat eel ever again.

Toothless was back to eating his fish happily, and while he was distracted she again slowly inched towards his tail.

"Okay. That's it. That's it, just stick with good stuff. And don't you mind me. I'll just be back...here. Minding my own business…"

She was by his injured tail now and knelt down to try and put it on only for Toothless to move his tail. She followed it, but he did it again, and then again pulling her forward. In order to keep it still she sat on the tail and began to work on getting the prosthetic on. It fit perfectly, and matched his right tail fin the way it was supposed to. She might have to make a few adjustments but in all it was a pretty good first fitting. While Hiccup was busy fiddling with his new tail, she didn't notice Toothless thought his tail fin was back and could finally fly out. He took off taking Hiccup with him hanging on to his tail for dear life, wrapping her arms and tail around his. But as suddenly as he was up in the air Toothless began to fall and Hiccup noticed the new tail fin had closed up, so with quick thinking she reached over and pulled it open. That did the trick and they were once again in the air, and soon out of the cove.

"Oh my—its working!"

She turned the fin to the right and they turned in that direction, back down into the cove and over the lake. "Yes, yes I did it!" she exclaimed ecstatic that she had achieved something for the first time.

The next thing she knew she was being thrown off the black dragon's tail and tossed into the water; Toothless, with his fin no longer held open fell down into the lake as well. It was quiet for a moment until Hiccup popped out of the water. "Ya!" she screamed. The fall did little to destroy her enthusiasm.

Both dragon and hybrid climbed out of the lake, and after Hiccup removed her cloak and vest to dry, sat in the sun to dry off. Meanwhile, Hiccup talked to Toothless talking about anything that came to mind, and he responded in kind despite the fact she still couldn't understand a word. It didn't exactly matter though; he was still the best friend she'd had since she was a small child.

It had been maybe an hour when Hiccup remembered she had training. She took her still damp cloak and vest, put them on, and grabbed the eel she threw earlier thinking she could maybe use it later, before racing out of the cove with a quick good bye to Toothless.

She arrived at the arena just in time and today they were put into groups with buckets of water for each trainee. Hiccup and Fishlegs were together while the other three boys made one group and the other two girls made another. They all stood at separate areas of the arena and waited for their next opponent to come out of its cage. When the lever was pulled green gas spread across the arena and Gobber began to instruct. "Today is about teamwork. Work together and you might survive. A wet dragon head can't light its fire; the Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, while the other one lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

As the gas engulfed the arena it cut their sight from each other except for their group members next to them. They all waited and listened for the dragon.

Fishlegs was muttering to himself as he and Hiccup stood back to back. "Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in its—"

"Will you stop that?!" she shouted in a hushed voice.

Snotout, Tuffnut and Aric were also moving nervously through the fog standing back to back to back. Snotlout, just as Fishlegs, was singing and muttering things to himself to calm his nerves. "If that dragon shows either of its faces I'm gonna…There!" Seeing the shape in the fog the three boys threw their buckets at it, only to realize it was only the girls.

"Hey!" Astrid shouted.

"It's us idiots" Ruffnut also reprimanded.

"Your butts must be getting bigger; we thought you were a dragon" Tuffnut joked. His sister and Astrid both glared at him, but then Snotout intervened.

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragoness figure…" It was responded with a punch to his face from Astrid.

"Nope, pretty sure there's something wrong with that", Aric stated in a joke like manner as Snotlout went down. Suddenly Tuffnut was pulled into the 'fog' screaming, and Aric was about to go help when Astrid stopped him.

"Wait", she said. They all froze, and after only a moment a tail came and swept them all off their feet causing the girls' buckets to spill.

Fishlegs and Hiccup saw the spilled water, and out of the fog came Tuffnut running. "Oh I am hurt, I am very much hurt!" he exclaimed.

"Chances of survival are dwindling to single digits now…" Fishlegs said worriedly.

A Zippleback head snaked out of the fog, and frightened, Fishlegs threw his bucket of water at it. Gas came out of his mouth, and the dragon's second head peaked out of the fog with light sparks coming from his mouth.

"Oh, wrong head." The dragon sprayed his gas at Fishlegs and he ran in a panic. Now Hiccup was left and it was up to her to throw her water at the correct head.

"Now Hiccup!" Gobber shouted.

Hiccup listened and threw her arms up, for the water to fall short and come back down towards her. "Oh come one." The dragon then lunged towards her and she fell back tripping over her feet.

"Hiccup!" her mentor yelled in fear for her life.

The dragon snaked closer, but then it smelled the eel and reared back in fear. Hiccup used this to her advantage, standing up and putting her hands out as if controlling him. "Back! Back! Back! Ya, that's right; back into your cage." The dragon was back in his cage and Hiccup took the eel that she had hung from her shoulder under her vest before leaving Toothless, and threw it into the cage.

"Now think about what you've done."

The Zippleback reared back even further pressing himself against the wall in utter terror from the eel. Before she closed the doors, feeling a little bad, she quietly said, "Sorry, I'll come back for it later."

She shut the doors and turned around finding everyone staring at her in utter shock, Fishlegs dropping the bucket he was holding. Gobber, looking at her with what looked like shock mixed with excitement and happiness. Hiccup wiped off the slime from the eel acting as if she was just brushing dirt off of her and became a little nervous with everyone's stares; she made a frantic break for it wanting to get out of there and just work on Toothless' tail. "Okay, so are we done? Because…I've got some things I need to…" She jogged past the group and out the arena. "Yep, see you tomorrow!"

At the forge Hiccup began making a saddle for herself so she could control the tail fin for Toothless. When she arrived the next day, she immediately took her cloak off and presented it to him. Although, the dragon thought it would be more fun to have her chase him as if saying, 'Gotta catch me first!' She chased after the playful dragon, her tail wagging up and down behind her just like Toothless'.

When she couldn't catch him, beginning to tire and lose her breath, Toothless eventually showed mercy and allowed her to put it on him. Once on, Hiccup grabbed some rope and attached it to the improved tail fin. They flew over the lake like they had the previous day. The test was going well so far until Hiccup pulled the rope in an attempt to turn; she pulled too hard and abruptly, causing Toothless to loose balance and they fell into the water for the second time in a row.

Later that day, Hiccup had decided to make a harness for herself and instead of trying to control the fin with her hand she'd use her foot. The next day, she did just that attaching the rope to her foot. But, it was still an inefficient way and when she tried moving her foot to control the fin it caused her dragon to loose balance once again; they fell into a field of soft sweet smelling grass.

Hiccup fell off of Toothless and when she reached the field her head felt a little fuzzy, but it didn't seem to be from the fall because it was a good kind of fuzzy. When she found Toothless she found him rolling around in the grass like a puppy, and she suddenly felt compelled to do the same. She fought the urge, though, wanting to figure out what was going on. Hiccup took some of the strange sweet smelling grass and sniffed it; that did it for her. She collapsed on the grass beside Toothless and began to run her hands through it in utter bliss. She turned on her back, spreading her wings out, and stared at the bit of grass in her hand; through the fuzziness she decided to name the plant 'Dragon Nip' and bring some to training the next morning wondering if it would work for other species as well.

During that morning they were faced off with the Gronckle again. The dragon flew at full speed towards Hiccup, and when she held the Dragon Nip out in her enclosed fist the Gronckle stopped in front of her hand. The dragon toppled over when she began to rub the plant on her snout. This feat brought the attention of all the trainees and Gothi who watched from above.

After training, the teens bombarded her with question after question of how she did what she did in the ring. "Oh, you know what? I left my ax in the ring." She turned to jog away when she accidentally almost bumped into Aric who looked less than happy with her. "You guys go on ahead; I'll catch up with you", she called as he looked angrily and suspiciously at her.

Hiccup had escaped back to the cove, and after another failed test run, Hiccup was scratching Toothless' scales; the dragon was enjoying every second of it. She moved her hand to a spot under his ear, near his neck, and the dragon instantly relaxed and fell over. She looked at her hands having found another incredible weakness.

The following morning, they were fighting with the Deadly Nadder again. The Nadder ran towards Hiccup, and she immediately dropped her weapons. She looked at her curiously; Aric then came to strike and Hiccup quickly scratched the Nadder trying to find the sweet spot. She found it just in time, and when the dragon fell Aric looked at her dumbfounded.

Later at the Great Hall Hiccup sat at her usual empty table, but as soon as she sat down everyone came towards her, the teens all sitting at her table. All, except for Aric; he slammed his cup on the table with fury. Astrid looked to him with worry in her eyes.

Hiccup was with Toothless once again, and she had brought her tools this time to work on the prosthetic with Toothless there. Work turned into play when Hiccup noticed Toothless pawing the light reflected off her hammer. She went behind a rock and moved the hammer to move the little light causing Toothless to chase it and pounce on it like a cat. This went on for a few minutes until Hiccup couldn't contain her laughter anymore. Toothless noticed and realized he'd been tricked. In Hiccup's state of hilarity she didn't notice Toothless coming at her until it was too late; Toothless tackled her and pinned her to the ground in playful anger.

"Hahaha—Ah! Toothless, get off me!" she cried trying to escape. It wasn't a very convincing cry though so Toothless just stood there until he felt she'd been punished enough.

The trainees' next opponent was a new dragon they hadn't been introduced to yet. "Meet the Terrible Terror", Gobber said, referring to the tiny green dragon that had just been let out.

Tuffnut laughed at it. "Ha, it's like the size of my—Ah, get it off! Get it off!" The Terror pounced on him, clawing and biting his face. Hiccup then saved Tuffnut by catching the little dragon's attention with the light reflecting off her shield.

"Oh I am hurt! I am very much hurt!"

She led him back into his cage, and put her foot to trap him inside looking back at everyone sheepishly.

"She's better then you ever were", Tuffnut, getting up, exclaimed to Hofferson siblings. The boy was not happy one bit. Later that day, he went into the forest to blow off some steam throwing his ax into every tree. His sister beating him, Aric could handle; she had been training for this just as much as he had. But for Hiccup to suddenly just become so good was confusing and frustrating. He wasn't gonna let some girl just suddenly waltz in, no matter how cute she was, and take the honor that was rightfully his, especially if she was cheating. It was the only explanation. Or, maybe she had some secret trainer and that's why Hiccup disappeared almost every afternoon.

As if on cue, as he was just about to throw his ax at another tree, Hiccup appeared in front of him carrying something strange in her arms. He couldn't tell what it was, but he did notice Hiccup looked shocked, very nervous and maybe even scared; she was defiantly hiding something. She jogged off and Aric followed. He came to the bolder she had just ran behind and somehow lost her; it was as if she just disappeared.

Hiccup was relieved when she lost Aric. That was the reason she never took her cloak off in the forest, instead doing so when she reached the cove. But, he had seen her with Toothless' new tail fin, and was no doubt suspicious. At least he didn't know where she was going and Toothless was still safe; that was all that really mattered in the end. She put the final design of Toothless' saddle, harness, and tail fin on him, and they went to a hill where she had set a wooden poll earlier. She tied a rope to the poll and then to Toothless; the purpose of this was to figure out the different positions of the tail fin labeling each one by a number for future reference.

She sat in the saddle, her tail lying straight on Toothless' body parallel, and they began. Toothless lightly hopped off the ground, the wind catching his wings. She clicked the tail into a position, and then she closed the fin. Toothless landed and she drew and labeled the position. Hiccup had him do it again when a gust of wind came, breaking the rope holding them in place, and they went flying backwards. Toothless rolled back over to his feet, and as he did this Hiccup was tugged along; she pulled on the harness keeping her attached to Toothless, and it was stuck.

They waited until night to go into the village so that Hiccup could grab the tool she needed to separate herself from Toothless. As much as she loved the dragon she didn't want to be stuck to him forever. She now wore her cloak once again, and she hoped no one would see her dragon in the darkness. They paused at a house, Toothless hiding behind it when a Viking passed by saying a quick hello and she waved in kind. He didn't see Toothless, so that was good. She checked to make sure no one else was around, and when she didn't see anyone she pulled Toothless along to the forge with her. Once there she quickly found the tool she needed and tried to quickly detach herself from the dragon. Unfortunately, Aric noticed the noise Toothless was making while exploring the place and she heard him call her.

"Hiccup? You in there?"

She popped out of the window closing the doors behind her so he wouldn't see her dragon. "Aric! Hey! Hi, Aric. Hi, Aric. Hi...Aric."

"I normally don't care what people do, but your acting weird."

Hiccup was pulled by Toothless causing it to look like she stumbled backwards for no reason.

"Well…weirder."

Toothless then kept pulling and pulling, making her float in midair against the wooden doors of the window until she was pulled through. Aric made a move to see what happened but when he looked into the forge she was already out and riding on Toothless to the cove. It was a close call, and when Hiccup arrived back to their secluded space she let out the breath she had been holding. Aric was no doubt becoming suspicious of her and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to keep Toothless a secret.


	9. Chapter 9: Test Drive

**I suggest you read the signs before reading from here on out. It may get a tad confusing in this chapter especially.**

* * *

The Story

 _Narration_

"Human Speech"

 _'Human/Hybrid Thought'_

 _"Singing"_

 **Dragonese**

 **"..."** (This is used when Hiccup can't understand something a dragon is saying. Until she understands Dragonese completely it will also be used when she can only catch part of what a dragon is saying)

* * *

 _ **Test Drive**_

The fleet of ships that left for the nest about a month ago had at last returned to the docks of Berk. What was left of the fleet in actuality, and the ships that did survive were only barley intact. Stoick was clearly not in a good mood, but that didn't stop Gobber from teasing his old friend.

"So I trust you found the nest at least?"

"Not even close", he said bitterly.

"Ah, excellent."

Gobber took the chief's duffel bag he was carrying to lighten his load, and share the burden of carrying the supplies previously brought, up the ramp of the docks.

"I hope you had more success than me?" Stoick asked, wondering how Hiccup was fairing in training.

"Well if by success you mean that you're parenting troubles are over with, then…yes."

Stoick stopped. "What?" he said frightened of what that could possibly mean; his mind going to the worst scenarios. The villagers passing by weren't helping.

"Congratulations Stoick, everyone is so relieved."

"Out with the old and in with the new right?"

"No one will miss that old nuisance."

Stoick, stunned and surprised with the village's complete lack of respect, couldn't take it any longer; he had to ask. "She's…gone?"

"Yeah…most afternoons, but who can blame her? I mean the life of a celebrity is very rough. She can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by her new fans."

"Hiccup?" Was Gobber certain he was talking about the right child?

"It's nothing like you've ever seen. She has this way with the beasts, almost like she can control them. It's like you've always dreamed but better."

Stoick couldn't believe it; Gobber had actually done it, and he felt complete pride and happiness for his girl. At long last she would be a true Viking.

* * *

Little did Stoick know, Hiccup was doing the exact opposite of what a 'true Viking' would do. At the moment she was on Toothless' back for their first official test flight, as usual, her cloak off. So far everything was fine; they were gliding with the wind, the tail fin was holding, and Toothless was still perfectly balanced.

"Alright bud, let's take this nice and slow. Here we go, bud. Here we go. Position…three, no four."

They made their first wide turn, and it was as smooth as can be. Toothless beat his wings to fly a little faster in the turn with excitement before leveling out again. Hiccup looked back again to look at the tail fin, and it appeared to be fine.

"Alright, it's go time. It's go time."

Hiccup leaned forward and Toothless flew down skimming the ocean's surface. The feeling of the wind rushing past her felt incredible. She had a feeling like this was where she belonged, like this was her element, being in the sky. She felt the urge to spread her wings, to feel the wind underneath them, and not even fighting it for a second, she did so. The feeling that rushed through her, feeling the wind under her wings, was completely indescribable. If she had to describe the feelings rushing through her, being in the sky with Toothless, she would have to say freedom. But in truth it was so much more. A feeling that had no words; she felt like…a dragon? Was this what it meant to be a dragon; to be able to have the feeling of pure freedom?

They passed under an arch, seeing birds flying by as well. She leaned in wanting to go a little faster. Then a sea stack came in their path and because Hiccup didn't react in time Toothless crashed right into it.

"Sorry!"

She did it again not even a second later.

"That's my fault."

Toothless slapped her cheek with his ear trying to tell her to focus. "Ya, ya, I'm on it. Position four, uh…three."

She pulled on the saddle telling Toothless to fly higher and Hiccup beat her wings with Toothless. They were a little off time with each other, but Hiccup didn't really care; she just wanted to know the feeling and wondered what actually flying felt like. Nevertheless, the rush riding a dragon, and mimicking the action, gave her was enough.

"Yeah! Go baby! Oh, this is amazing, the in my…" her cheat sheet with all the different positions flew out of its hold. "…cheat sheet! STOP!" She reached out for it and grabbed the paper before it became out of reach.

However, thinking it an order directed at him, Toothless stopped, and Hiccup didn't due to the momentum. Her harness unhooked and she was thrown out of the saddle in mid-flight. They both began to fall.

"Nooo! Oh Gods! Oh no!"

As they were free falling Toothless began to frantically try and right himself to get under Hiccup and she tried helping him by attempting to calm him and tell him what to do.

"Alright, okay, you just gotta kinda angle yourself. No, no…come back down towards me. Come back down—ow!" In his frantic downwards spiral he hit her with his tail.

Knowing they didn't have much time left before they hit the ground, Hiccup put the cheat sheet in her mouth, and tried to angle herself towards Toothless. It worked, and she was able to reach the saddle and pull herself into it. She spread her wings wide and pulled with all her might to take Toothless out of his dive. He spread his wings out and they skid over the trees. But the danger wasn't over yet; they were quickly coming to a group of sea stacks. Hiccup tried to look at the sheet to know what positions to use, but she couldn't read it. She threw it away deeming it useless and instead, for the first time in her entire life, trusted her instincts; all of them. She directed Toothless to go in and as they evaded crashing into each one through the maze of sea stacks, she moved with him somehow knowing what position the tail fin needed to be in and when. When they made it out, she was panting from the anxiety that had filled her. That anxiety was now replaced with happiness though.

"YEAH!" she shouted with her wings tucked back in and her arms raised in victory. Toothless was also feeling celebratory and shot a plasma blast in the air, heading for the fire created. "Come on." Her arms and wings flopped down and they went through the flames, Hiccup, forgetting she could use her wings to protect herself.

That evening, Hiccup decided to have dinner with Toothless on the beach—one where no Viking would find them of course. He had a pile of different fish to feast upon while she had one deciding to have it raw, not really caring to build a fire. Hiccup's hair was standing up funny and her cloths were singed thanks to Toothless' victory blast, but she wasn't too mad at him. He was like an annoying older brother; he could piss her off at times, but she still loved him and couldn't stay mad forever. In what she figured was a common thing amongst dragon packs, Toothless hacked up half his fish for her yet again; this was maybe the fifth time. She respectfully declined.

"Uh…ya no, I'm good", she said referring to her own fish in her hands. Toothless didn't really seem to mind.

As they were eating a group of Terrible Terrors flew onto the beach eyeing Toothless' pile. Being with Toothless for about a month now, she was beginning to pick up a few words he would say; three of those words were **'fish'** , **'mine'** , and **'no'**. For some reason he said these words to her a lot; especially **'no'**.

 **"...fish, fish, fish"** , she could hear the little dragons screeching.

Toothless wasn't very happy with the Terrors wanting to take his food. **"Mine…no…"** she could catch him growling.

 **"…"**

 **"…"**

She didn't know what exactly they were saying to each other, but she could tell the Terrors wanted some and Toothless wasn't about to let them have any. One Terror snatched up the half of a fish Toothless had offered to Hiccup, and he let her take it. A third Terror tried to take it from her but she put a stop to it by shooting a little blast of fire at him. A fish then popped out of Toothless' pile and started to move. He looked confused by the walking fish, and Hiccup was giggling at the sight, until the Terror revealed himself. Toothless quickly snatched the other end of the almost stolen fish and after a not-so-fair game of tug of war, ate it right in front of him laughing smugly.

The Terror was clearly insulted, spitting out the tail piece he was left with, and trying to look threatening coming closer to Toothless and preparing to blast him in the face only for Toothless to shoot a very small plasma blast in the Terror's mouth. The small match was over and the Terror was left defeated.

"Huh, not so fire-proof on the inside, are you? Here you go." Hiccup threw him the rest of her fish and he ate it happily. The Terror came towards her and sat in her lap taking a nap after his meal. She began to pet him and he seemed to enjoy that. After everything she'd been through with Toothless, seeing how he behaved like any other animal or pet really, she had begun to see that Vikings were maybe wrong about dragons. But, after today, and seeing what the little Terror had just done, giving his full trust to her, she knew for certain.

"Everything we know about you guys…is wrong."

Later that night she was in the back room of the forge. She didn't want to wear her cloak anymore, and it wasn't like anyone ever came back there so she took it off and laid it on the back of the chair she was sitting on. She wasn't really doing anything; she just needed the 'escape room' as a place to escape and think. She was excelling in dragon training with her little tricks and if she kept it up she'd be chosen to kill the Monstrous Nightmare. It was the one dragon they weren't allowed to train with because of the reservation. She could never do that; she didn't want to do that. Of course the dragons did raid them and had killed many people in her tribe; that was an issue she'd have to sort out, but what gave Vikings the right to kill dragons just for acting on instinct and trying to survive.

' _But, then again, Vikings are just trying to survive too.'_

' _No, but this is too far. This dragon has done nothing.'_

' _He was captured in a raid and is being used for training purposes.'_

' _I guess, but…Wait! No he's not! He's being used for some honor to be the first dragon the winner kills. He's being used like some object.'_

She was at complete war with herself, and she felt lost. She knew this was wrong, but what could she do? It was clear she wasn't going to be able to kill the dragon, so maybe she could just forfeit and hand the 'honor' to Aric.

She began to fiddle with a pencil, flicking it up and watching it roll down back to her. She did this as she began to hum a song her father said her mother would sing to her as a baby. It always made her feel a little better whenever she felt lost or sad. The hum turned into words being sung.

" _Always reaching out in vain, just taking the things not worth having, but—"_

At that moment her father came through the door.

"Dad! You're back!" she exclaimed frantically trying to push the drawings of Toothless and his prosthetic that she had all over her desk from view. "Gobber's not here, so…"

"I know. I came looking for you", he said sounding angry.

"You did?" she asked scared. _'Oh no, what does he want?'_

"You've been keeping secrets."

"I…have?" _'Oh Thor, does he know?!'_

"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?"

"I don't know what you're—"

"Nothing happens on this island without me knowing about it."

At this point Hiccup's tail was between her legs and ears as flattened as can be in complete and utter terror for her dragon, best friend, and honorary brother. "Oh?" she muttered.

"So, let's talk…about that dragon."

Hiccup's face turned white. _'Oh Thor, it's true; he found out about Toothless! How?!'_

"Oh gods, dad, I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how to—"

Suddenly, in the middle of her panicked apology, her father began to laugh like he told some great joke.

"You're not…upset?" she asked confused.

"What?! I was hoping for this!"

"Uh…you were?" _'Are we talking about the same thing?'_

"And believe me it only gets better. Just wait 'til you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time. And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear. What a feeling!" Her father began to laugh again, and in his excitement accidently shoved her into the wall and in a basket.

"You really had me going there, dear. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you! And all the while, you were holding out on me! Oh Thor almighty!

Hiccup had climbed out of the basket and her tail now went limp, her ears down in sadness, despite her face trying not to reveal her emotions. Her father didn't find out about Toothless and she'd gained her father's approval, but he was proud of the wrong girl. The girl he was proud of didn't really exist.

Her father grabbed a stool and took a seat. "Ahhh, with that nasty demon half of you gone, we finally have something to talk about."

Those words only made her feel worse. Sure, that's what she had felt not too long ago, but now she liked her dragon half; she even embraced it. She no longer felt shame or anger towards that side of her. She now realized that her father was probably the one to put that shame and anger there in the first place, hearing the words he'd just said. He thought she was a demon; maybe he really only thought it was only part of her sure, but that side of her still made up who she was, so in reality he was saying _she_ was a demon. He had wanted the demon gone and in its place a strong Viking; he didn't want Hiccup, he didn't love her. He loved what he wanted her to become. And now he thought he got his wish, when he couldn't be any more wrong.

There was a long uncomfortable silence between them. Hiccup just didn't know what to say; didn't know what she could say.

"Oh, I…brought you something" her father said, breaking the silence and presenting a horned helmet. "To keep you safe in the ring."

Hiccup took the helmet and looked it over, still hurt, but happy he had actually given her such a gift. "Wow…thanks."

"Your mother would have wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate."

Slightly disturbed, Hiccup stopped touching the top portion of the helmet with her hand.

"Matching set", he said tapping his own helmet. "Keeps her close, you know?"

Grimacing and even more disturbed she placed the helmet down.

"Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."

"Wait…what?"

"If you manage to be chosen tomorrow, after the match between you and that Nightmare, we'll reveal to the village what it is you've been hiding under that cloak of yours. A deal's a deal."

"And…if I'm not chosen?" she asked slowly.

"Well, then we'll just reveal it to the village anyway. It won't be as grand and special, but Aric is a tough lad to beat. Just try your best; I have no doubt you'll be the one to hold the honor."

After he said that he left, and Hiccup was now stunned at her father's show of love and support. _'Too bad it's for a daughter who doesn't exist.'_

* * *

 **The song I used is _Don't You Worry About A Thing_ sung by Torri Kelly in the movie Sing. For reference of tune, I'm using the version from the actual movie and not the soundtrack since I'm only using the first few lines where she sings it slowly, and the soundtrack version doesn't do that. And yes, this song will make an appearance again later; bet you can guess when. If you guys can't I'd be pretty disappointed; it's pretty obvious. Alright, I'll probably update again tomorrow. This is what happens when you pent up a story for 3 years. You can't stop writing it.**


	10. Chapter 10: A Romantic Evening

**Alright, get ready for some Hiccstrid...yay, or I guess in this it would be Hiccric? Eh, whatever you guys can decide the ship name. Also this chapter has more original dialogue from me, so I hope I wrote the characters okay. I hate it when characters are so OOC. Let me know what you think so far; don't forget to review.**

 **Now...on with the show!**

* * *

 _ **A Romantic Evening**_

The following afternoon, Hiccup and Aric were up against the Gronckle again. There were small wooden barriers placed in the ring and Hiccup was hiding behind one of them trying her very best not to win. Instead of wearing her hood, she wore her helmet to cover her ears; it was just big enough with her tiny head.

Aric came by to where she sat. He didn't notice her at first, but when he did, he donned that angry look of his again.

"Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing", he told her in a very threatening tone. He then rushed off to the next barrier.

"Good, please by all means", she called out.

Hiccup stood up, shield and ax in hand, and turned to the crowd where her dad stood looking as proud as could be. She did her best to smile as she fixed her slipping helmet, but it quickly turned into a look of uninterest.

Meanwhile Aric was sneaking his way up to the Gronckle, preparing to strike. He stopped for a moment to reassure himself. "This time. This time, for sure."

He released a battle cry and jumped over wall after wall, but abruptly stopped when he saw the Gronckle already downed by Hiccup. Her weapons were dropped, but the Gronckle was on the floor rolled over.

"NO! Ugh, SON OF A HALF-TROLL RAT EATING...MUNGE BUCKET!"

"So…later", Hiccup said trying to sneak away, but Gobber yanked her back with his hook.

"Oh, not so fast."

"Uh, but I'm kinda late for…"

Aric caught her neck with his ax. "What! Late? For what? Exactly?" He almost looked crazy.

She luckily didn't have to answer and was saved from nearly being decapitated when her father spoke.

"Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided."

Gobber stood behind the two teens and pointed to Aric. Gothi shook her head. The boy looked like he was about to have another melt down. Gobber then pointed to Hiccup and Gothi nodded a yes. If looks could kill she would have been dead where she stood when she saw the look Aric gave her. Gobber was jumping up and down like a child on Snoggletog morning and hugging her by his hooked hand.

"Ah you've done it Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" he shouted out.

But, while she was fearing for not only her life, but also the fact that she was chosen, everyone else was thrilled; her father especially.

"Ha, ha! That's my girl!"

The teens began to surround her and Fishlegs picked her up having her sit on his shoulders. Hiccup quickly placed her tail in her lap so he wouldn't feel it down his back. In an attempt to mask her panic, she tried to fake celebratory cries. It came out very unenthusiastic and quite sarcastic, but no one seemed to notice. "Heh, heh. Oh Yeah! Yes! I can't wait, I'm so…"

"…leaving. We're leaving bud. Let's pack up; looks like you and me are taking a little vacation…forever." When she finally was able to escape everyone, she packed all her things and came to the cove thinking it'd be her last time. She didn't see Toothless, so she put her load down, her cloak off, and prepared to leave knowing he'd show up eventually. He was most likely just sleeping somewhere she couldn't see him from where she was.

"Ohhh man", she breathed, and as she stood up fiddling with her harness she noticed Aric on the rock she put her load against. "Aggh…what the—", she said startled and tripping over some stones.

Despite the fact that her dragon parts were exposed, and Toothless could arrive any moment, she tried to play off as everything was fine.

"Uh, what…are you doing here?"

"I want to know what's going on", he said thankfully not looking up from sharpening his ax. "No one just gets as good as you do, especially you! So start talking; are you training with someone?"

"Uh, uh…training?" She was scrambling to find the words of what to say, and then even more frantically when he looked up and saw her. He hopped off his perch down towards her, coming dangerously close.

"Oh, it better not involve…this?! What is this anyway? Some sort of stupid dragon costume?!" He pulled at one of her wings, and his eyes widened in realization.

"Uh, now I-I know-this-looks really bad, but—"

"What _are_ you? What in Thor's name is going on here?!" he didn't look at her disgusted, like she always thought, just confused and pissed off. Then he gasped at something behind her and moved passed her to check it out. Hiccup knew exactly what he saw and taking his question as an opportunity to get him to leave she told a white lie.

"Um…yes! Yes, you got me! I'm secretly half dragon and I've been coming here to…finally learn how to fly! My dad and I were gonna tell everyone tomorrow, but you caught me…hehe, its time everyone knew…" she went in front of him spreading out her wings to block his sight of the possible Night Fury behind her, and grabbed his hand placing it on her chest swaying each way his head did to look passed her.

"…drag me back, here we go…OW!"

Aric bent her hand backwards, and she went down. "Why would you do that?!" She made an attempt to stand up, but he kicked her back down.

"That's for the lies. "And that's…" he took the handle of his ax and dropped it on her stomach, "…for everything else."

Toothless had then chosen to appear with a loud growl as warning. "Oh man", Hiccup muttered.

Aric gasped at the sight of Toothless and just as Hiccup got back up, was knocked down again. "Get Down!" he ordered, tackling her.

Toothless began to run and lunge at Aric fearing the boy was hurting her. He rolled off of Hiccup. "Run! Run!" he screamed at her positioning his ax to strike.

"NO!" she yelled tackling Aric down in time before either of the males could hurt each other. She slid Aric's ax away from the boy, and went to position herself in between the two holding her hands out to both of them in the motion of 'stop'.

"No, no! It's okay, it's okay…" She turned herself completely to Toothless and with both hands out in a gesture of 'calm down' she said, "He's a friend."

Toothless stopped and calmed down, although, still not happy with Aric's presence, she still had to hold him back a bit.

"You scared him", she said to Aric next.

" _I_ scared him?! Who? Is him?"

Letting go of Toothless, Hiccup did her best at a proper introduction. "Aric, Toothless; Toothless, Aric." Toothless' 'hello', however, was more of a snarl saying 'go away'.

Looking appalled, Aric stepped back and ran off.

"Duh duh duh, we're dead", Hiccup sung.

Toothless turned around clearly glad the boy was gone.

"Woah woah woah, where do you think you're going?!" she exclaimed at her stupid 'brother'.

Hiccup wasn't about to let Aric go and tell everyone she'd been hiding a Night Fury and was part Night Fury herself. It wouldn't exactly look very good.

* * *

Aric was running as fast as he could. Hiccup being half dragon, okay; it was weird and he didn't understand it, but if Stoick hadn't sent her off the island, or had her killed, he clearly didn't seem to really care. But, hiding a Night Fury, keeping it as a pet… He had to tell Stoick.

He heard wing beats above him and ran faster. He jumped over a large log, and was suddenly grabbed in giant claws being carried further away from the ground. "Oh, great Odin's ghost, this is it! Ahhhh…" he screamed terrified.

He was dropped onto a tall tree and he hung on a branch, seeing Hiccup riding the Night Fury. "Hiccup! Get me _down_ from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain."

"I'm not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!"

"Then I won't speak. Just, let me show you." She offered her hand to him, but he refused to take it. "Please Aric", she begged.

Knowing he didn't have any other way down, he pulled himself up ignoring her hand and climbed on the beast. "Alright, now get me down."

"Toothless, down; gently" Hiccup told her dragon.

The dragon spread its wings preparing to take off from the tree, and Hiccup turned to Aric. "See, nothing to be afraid of—Woah!

The dragon suddenly launched into the air nearly causing him to fall off if Hiccup hadn't caught him at the waist with her tail. He screamed in surprise and fear with the speed and recklessness of the dragon's flying. Hiccup was trying to reprimand her dragon in the meantime.

"Toothless! What is wrong with you! Bad dragon!" She turned to him and laughed nervously, "He's not usually like this." It sounded like it was a lie. The dragon then leaned to one side.

"Oh no", she said with no surprise or fear as if knowing what the beast was about to do next. Aric screamed in terror when the dragon dropped out of the sky into the ocean, out, then in again, and out again.

"Toothless, what are you doing? We need him to like us?!" He began to spin next, and Hiccup sounded to be less then amused.

"And now…the…spinning. Thank you for nothing you useless reptile." It almost sounded like she was used to the beast's antics. He dove and span again, and Aric was holding on to Hiccup for dear life.

"Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!"

And as suddenly as the dragon went crazy, he stopped. He stopped his crazy dive and they went into a gentle glide. No longer feeling like he was going to be thrown out of the sky, Aric opened his eyes and looked up from Hiccup's shoulder. It was beautiful; there were pink clouds surrounding them, and he felt compelled to touch them. He reached up and his hand went right through it; it was wet, but like air. He felt like a child leaning back slightly and running his hands though the clouds laughing.

They flew until it was dark and the Northern Lights shun in the night sky. There was a break in the now blue clouds and Aric could see Berk. His eyes widened in amazement at the view. After a few more moments of flying around he finally spoke.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool. It's…amazing; he's amazing", he said placing a hand on Toothless' side.

* * *

Hiccup was glad she was able to convince Aric to see dragons the way she did. It made her think that maybe it was possible to convince others, but she knew while she might be able to get the other teens on board, the adults would be a different story. Her father especially with how he lost his wife, and her mother.

"So…" Aric began. "How did this whole part dragon thing happen?"

"I don't know. I was born with it. I don't even know if my dad knows how; whenever I'd ask he'd never tell me. He wouldn't even tell me what species I am."

"Oh", he said a little disappointed and sorry for her. A moment of awkward silence passed. "So what now?"

She just sighed. She was going to run away, but with the possibility of convincing her people dragons were'nt what they thought they were, she wasn't sure anymore. But she couldn't kill that dragon.

"Hiccup, your final exam is _tomorrow_. You know you're going to have to kill—" He paused and pulled her closer in a whisper as if Toothless wouldn't be able to hear. "–kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me."

Hiccup then heard a strange noise, and she could feel a faint pull like it was a call to somewhere. The next thing she knew, Toothless sharply dived and turned towards where the pull, or call, was coming from. The two teens yelled in surprise.

"Toothless what's happening? What's going on? What's that sound?" she asked quite frantic.

" **Quiet"** , he ordered her.

They were suddenly surrounded by dragons, Toothless jolting away from the ones that came too close.

"Get down", she told Aric in a whisper.

The further they seemed to go the stronger the pull felt; unbeknownst to her, Hiccup's pupils became slits just as Toothless', but unlike Toothless, she could fight the pull and turn away. Unfortunately, she wasn't the one flying.

"What's going on?" Aric asked.

"I'm not sure. Toothless, you gotta get us out of here bud." She placed her hand on his head, but he pushed it away.

"… **quiet!"**

It was no use. Toothless was gonna follow the call to where ever it was coming from, and if she didn't know any better, she'd think the nest. She could see through the thick fog the dragons all had an animal in their claws, all flying in the same direction.

"It looks like their hauling in their kill."

"What does that make us?"

The path became more unpredictable; the dragons went down in a steep dive, leveled out, and then veered left and right to avoid sea stacks that appeared in the fog, all the while still following that same call.

They came upon a volcano and Toothless went through a hole in the rock to a place filled with rock ledges where dragons sat on, surrounding a giant hole that they threw their kill into.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this", Hiccup said in amazement.

Once they arrived, the pull seemed to cease; Toothless and Hiccup's eyes returned to normal and Toothless landed behind a large rock formation where they could hide.

"Well, it's satisfying to know that all our food has been dumped down a hole", Hiccup stated sarcastically.

"They're not eating any of it", Aric also noted.

A Gronckle came into the nest and hovered over the pit. He opened his mouth and out came a tiny fish. They heard a large growl emanate from the pit and the Gronckle looked scared. He started to fly away, but in the next second he was eaten by a giant dragon head that popped out of the hole. Hiccup gasped.

"What…is that?" Aric asked, as all the dragons began to cower in fear.

They stared at it for another moment until Hiccup thought she could see it realize intruders had entered her nest.

 **"…"**

"Alright bud, we gotta get out of here…now", she said quickly before the gigantic dragon moved to eat them. All the dragons flew in a panic up and out of the nest through the hole at the top. Hiccup, Aric, and Toothless narrowly escaped death when they evaded the dragon's second attempt, and she unfortunately grabbed an innocent Zippleback instead. Hiccup's eyes were wide with fear and confusion.

They flew back to Berk and into the cove, and all the while Hiccup was trying to figure out what was going on in that nest. "I don't understand. What was that thing? Why are the dragons feeding it?!"

As they entered the cove Aric answered her. "No, no, it totally makes sense. It's like a giant bee hive. They're the workers and she's their queen. It controls them." He hopped off of Toothless. "Let's find your dad."

"What? No, no." She ran to stop him. "No not yet, they'll…kill Toothless. No…" a small whimper escaped her. "Aric, we have to think his through, carefully." She started to walk back towards Toothless, but Aric wouldn't drop the subject.

"Hiccup, we just discovered the dragon's nest. The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret?! To protect your _pet_ dragon, are you serious?!"

Hiccup turned and with the most serious face and tone of voice Aric had ever heard from her she said a simple, "Yes." It made him pause. "Okay. Then what do we do?"

"Just give me until tomorrow; I'll figure something out."

"Achem", the two teens both heard a female voice say. They turned and saw Astrid standing in the cove staring right at them, her arms crossed.

"I hope you two have a really good explanation of what's going on here?"

Aric was quick to answer. "Astrid, I'll tell you everything when we get back home."

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone about what you've seen", Hiccup finished almost begging.

Astrid looked at them for a moment with a deep stare, then she said, shrugging, something they didn't expect. "Okay."

" "Wait what?" "

"Yeah, I pretty much heard your entire conversation when you two landed so..."

Hiccup was extremely relieved, and then Astrid continued. "But, Hiccup, you can't keep this secret…" she said referring to her parts and her dragon, "…forever. And I can place a guess you don't want to fight that Nightmare tomorrow either?"

"Yeah", Hiccup replied not knowing where this was going.

"So…what are you going to do?" she said with her arms crossed once again.

Hiccup thought for a moment, when an idea hit her. She wasn't going to fight that dragon in the ring tomorrow. "I'm going to train that dragon", she said confidently.

Aric looked surprised and little frightened. "Wait, you're going to train it? In front of the entire village?" he said with disbelief in his voice.

"Yep."

"You do realize that's insane right?"

"Uh huh."

"Well then...alright", he said with a small smile.

"Just be careful. I don't think Stoick would be too happy to see his only daughter eaten or burned alive by a dragon."

"Don't worry, Astrid. If I could train and befriend the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, I'm pretty sure I can train a measly Nightmare."

"Hiccup, your forgetting you're _half_ the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself; you don't think that had anything to do with you being able to befriend him?" Aric asked.

"No. Maybe it helped, but I'm pretty sure anyone could train a dragon…with the right patience."

"Hey how did you know where we went anyway?" Aric suddenly asked Astrid.

Astrid answered as if it were obvious. "I saw you go after Hiccup when she ran off, and I wanted to make sure the heir wasn't going to be found dead in the woods. By the time I got here, you guys were gone and all I could hear was you screaming like a little girl."

"I wasn't gonna kill her!" Aric protested ignoring the little girl comment.

"Uh huh, sure you weren't."

There was a moment of silence and Astrid could see the look on her brother's face as he looked at Hiccup, but also trying to avoid her gaze. She decided to excuse herself.

"Well I better be heading back. I'll see you in the arena Hiccup. Good luck."

Surprised by how kind Astrid was being to her, she answered back. "Thank you."

"Wow…your sister is more easy going then I thought."

"Yeah, sometimes; sometimes I don't get it."

"You both are _quite_ the mystery", she admitted.

There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments once again. Hiccup was fiddling with her harness when Aric, all of a sudden, punched her arm. "That's for kidnapping me."

All Hiccup could do was look at him in confusion, holding her arm. She turned to Toothless who was taking a drink from the lake with a motion of 'what was that?' and he just gave her a motion of 'don't look at me, he's your problem'. She turned back to Aric and he did the last thing she would have ever expected him to do. He pulled her close and kissed her cheek.

"That's for…everything else", he said softly and almost embarrassed. Aric turned and ran off, and Hiccup just stood there staring, a smile creeping across her face. Toothless appeared next to her and began to look at her with big eyes.

"Eh-uh, what are you looking at?" she said a little startled.

As he turned his gaze away from her, her 'brother' replied. " **Nothing."**


	11. Chapter 11: You're Only A Curse

_**You're Only A Curse**_

The entire village stood above the arena in anticipation for their heir to kill her first dragon the following morning. As Hiccup stood at the gate she could hear their cheers. She stood without her helmet on, ears exposed, as she listened to her father's speech.

"Well, I can show my face in public again", he started out. Everyone laughed at the joke including her father. Hiccup's ears moved down lower. "If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Hiccup would go from being, well... Hiccup, to placing first in dragon training... I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad. Yes! And you know it! But we are here. And no one is more surprised… or more proud than I am."

As her father's speech went on Hiccup only felt more burden and distress. She thought she was ready to face this day, but seeing her father so proud…?

"...Today, my girl becomes a Viking. Today, she becomes one of us!" Everyone in the crowd cheered loudly.

Hiccup wasn't sure how her father would react to what she was about to do, but she knew it wouldn't be good. ' _What if he fears I've taken their side; succumbed to the darkness he believes is inside me?'_ Her mind took her to the worst possible outcomes, and to say she was frightened was a bit of an understatement.

"Be careful with that dragon", Aric said approaching her from behind.

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about", she replied looking at her father who began to take his seat.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Yes. I need to put an end to this; I have to try."

Remembering Toothless, and the possibility of all of this going horribly wrong she had to ask Aric a favor. "Aric, if something goes… wrong… just make sure they don't find Toothless."

"I will. Just promise me it won't go wrong."

She couldn't do it. She opened her mouth her say so, but Gobber suddenly approached them. "It's time Hiccup. Knock 'em dead."

Hiccup placed her helmet on her head, covering her ears from the village's sight, and entered the ring. Once she stepped in everyone cheered her on and she walked slowly up to the weapons rack. Once there she grabbed a shield and a small dagger; she couldn't lift anything else, and it wasn't like she was really going to need an actual weapon any way. Slowly, she turned to face the cage that would soon let the dragon free and took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"I'm ready", she called at last.

The leaver was pulled, unlocking the cage, and the Nightmare burst from the doors in flames. He frantically climbed the arena and blasted his fire at the Vikings outside the ring trying to find a way of escape, until he saw Hiccup. He dropped from the metal ceiling keeping him from flying off and began to stalk towards her. She could hear the Vikings cheering her on.

"Go on Hiccup!"

"Give it to him!"

She did the opposite of what they were asking. Instead of striking him or even moving towards him, she slowly walked backwards as he walked forwards and one by one dropped her weapons. With her hands free of threatening tools she raised them up in a 'calm down, I'm not going to hurt you' motion and coupled that with words said softly.

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay."

" **No…liar…"**

Hiccup wasn't certain if it was a good or wise decision, but it was part of her plan. She and her father were going to tell the village anyway, so why not now while she made her stand. Her face turned from clam, nice, and friendly, to one of determination. She looked up at her father, her hands now on her helmet, then back at the dragon. And, with one swift motion, she took her helmet off and threw it to the side revealing her black Night Fury ears.

"I'm not one of them", she stated while performing the act.

There were a collection of gasps and mutterings from the crowd, and she could see her dad was already furious at her actions. "Stop the fight", he ordered.

Hiccup couldn't allow that. "No! I need you all to see this." Her left hand was reached out to the Nightmare's snout. "They're not what we think they are. We don't have to kill them."

The dragon was about to place his snout in her hand when her father yelled out in a shout of absolute fury.

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!"

His hammer hit the metal keeping the arena closed from the top with a loud clang. It startled the dragon, and he snapped at Hiccup's hand. She pulled away in time and as the Nightmare began to pursue her in blind fury and panic, she ran for her life. He shot a blast of fire, and as she attempted to dodge the end of her cloak caught on fire. She quickly threw it off not caring about anyone seeing her tail and wings and continued to run from the dragon.

"Hiccup!" Aric screamed for her. He pried the gate open with an ax and climbed in to try and help her. Astrid tried to get through the crowd to help, when before she knew it, the chief harshly pushed passed her.

"No! You, stay here!"

He was completely blind with rage and fear. She obeyed her chief and stayed with the other teens watching the scene and hoping Hiccup and Aric would be okay once Stoick made it to them.

Meanwhile, Hiccup was still trying to evade the raging dragon; her wings were fluttering about, fear and instinct telling her to fly away, but she couldn't; she wouldn't even have been able to if she could. She ran to the weapon's rack to grab a shield, but only for it to be blasted out of her hands in an instant.

""Hiccup!"" Aric and Astrid both shouted, and seeing a hammer Aric threw it at the Nightmare. It had the desired effect of causing it to chase him instead, and he ran as fast as possible. Stoick pried the gate open and called out for the teens. "This way!"

Aric made it to the chief, but as Hiccup was about to, the Nightmare made her run back with another blast of fire. The Nightmare then pinned her down in his claws and she was sure she was dead until she heard the telltale sound of a whistle.

Toothless came bursting into the arena with a powerful plasma blast and pushed the Nightmare off of Hiccup. The two dragons were now locked in combat. The Nightmare had Toothless down for a moment until he pushed him off onto the other side of the ring. He stood in front of Hiccup shouting at the other dragon while keeping him far from her. Hiccup just laid on the ground stunned. With one final shout of **"Go!"** the Nightmare left and Hiccup was shaken out of her stunned state with the new fear of her village killing Toothless even though he had saved her. She got up and ran to Toothless trying to push him away.

"Alright Toothless, go, get out of here." He wasn't listening, and Vikings began to pool into the arena.

"Go! Go!" She kept trying but for some reason he wouldn't leave her. Her dad then came running in with an ax straight at Toothless.

"No! No, dad he won't hurt you!"

Toothless, thinking him and all the Vikings as a threat growled and said, **"…not hurt…!" (You will not hurt her!)**

He ran from Hiccup in pursuit of Stoick, and knocked any humans coming towards him away.

"No, no, no, no; you're only making it worse."

Toothless lunged at Stoick and with that one swift move had him pinned, ready to blast.

"Toothless, stop!" He didn't listen, and was about to let a plasma blast loose on her father.

"No. Noo **OOOO!"**

The sound—roar—that had escaped her surprised Hiccup, but it made Toothless stop instantly which was all that mattered. He crouched down at her and crooned wondering what was wrong. She didn't get to answer before the Vikings attacked Toothless once more pinning him down.

"Oh no, no; just please…don't hurt him!" she cried. She tried to reach out for him, but Aric held her back. No matter how hard she tried to escape his hold, the boy wasn't letting go.

"Please don't hurt him", she whimpered trying her best not to let any tears fall, still reaching out for Toothless who was being held down by several Vikings.

Her father got back to his feet and an ax was offered to him. His glare turned from the dragon to Hiccup, and then to the dragon again. "Put it with the others", he stated pushing the ax aside. Her father then walked furiously to her and grabbed her away from Aric by her vest.

He dragged her to the house where he brought out the cage that she hadn't sat in for six years and shoved her in harshly—the cage only had enough room for her to sit up straight and lay down in a fetal position. She landed on her hands and knees inside the horrid contraption. He shut the door, but, as usual for the last three times she had been in it previously, hadn't locked it; he was pacing back and forth across the floor muttering to himself.

"I should have known…I should have seen the signs…"

Hiccup turned to look at him. "Dad—"

"We had a deal!" He looked like he was about to say something else but didn't.

"I-I-know we did…but, that was before…uggh, it's all so messed up."

Her father, still pacing around the house, turned to face her for a moment accusingly. "So everything in the ring, a trick?! A lie?" he finished in a disbelieved whisper turning from her once again.

"I screwed up. I-I-I should have told you before now. I—ugh—just take this out on me be mad at me, but please…just don't hurt Toothless", she begged.

Her father turned to her furious. "The dragon? That's what you're worried about?! Not the people you almost killed?!"

Hiccup got out of the cage, and stood trying to explain. "He was just protecting me, he's not dangerous!"

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them! They defend themselves that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back they'll be eaten themselves; there's something else on their island dad, it's a dragon like—"

"Their island?! So you've been to the nest?" he said leaning in towards her.

"Did I say nest?" she asked leaning back nervously.

"How did you find it?!"

"I-I didn't! There's this…call—o-only a dragon can find the island." Her father's eyes widened; he straightened from his hunch over her and she immediately knew she'd said too much.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, dad no, please. You don't know what you're up against; it's like nothing you've ever seen!" He simply ignored her, turned, and headed for the door.

"Dad…please! I promise you, you can't win this won!"

Her father still wouldn't listen.

"Dad! No!" She ran to him and tried to stop him from exiting through the door.

"For once in your life would you please just listen to me?!" she cried out pulling at him, only for him to grab her and throw her back into the cage. He came up and shut the door, locking it this time, and looked down at her with hatred.

"You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You're not my daughter, you're only a curse."

Hiccup felt her heart break, and Stoick left her in the cage within the dark house, storming out in anger.

* * *

When Stoick left the house he stumbled back a bit unable to believe what he had just done. He quickly recovered though; no matter how much it hurt, his daughter had lost the battle that had been within her. She'd chosen the dragons over them and unfortunately there was nothing he could do. He chose not to dwell on it anymore, instead focusing on finding the nest. In order to accomplish that, however, he needed that Night Fury.

* * *

After gathering herself back together Hiccup knew she had to get out. She had long ago learned how to pick the lock of the cage when she would be thrown in many times as a wild and energetic child who listened less than she did now. It didn't take too long before she was out and running to the arena to grab Toothless. When she arrived, though, he was gone; her father must have taken him to take him and his men to the nest. She ran to where the docks were, but stopped on a high platform when she saw Toothless already being loaded onto the ship. She was too late.

She'd failed. She had failed her father, had failed Toothless, and failed Berk itself. Hiccup saw her father, who had disowned her, gaze up at her for a moment doing a bit of a double take surprised to see her. He only stared up at her for a few seconds more before turning back and starting to set sail.

Hiccup didn't want to cry; Vikings don't cry. So, she did the one thing she always did when she felt completely lost or sad; she sang the song her mother had supposedly sung to her as a baby, before she was taken away.

" _Every body's got a thing, but some don't know how to handle it."_ A few tears escaped her eyes, already losing the battle. _"Always reaching out in vain, just taking the things not worth having. But, don't you worry 'bout a thing. Don't you worry 'bout a thing baby. 'Cause…"_ She began to sob. _"'Cause I'll be standing…by your side…when…you find it…_ out." Hiccup lost her battle not to cry. She doubled over holding herself and sobbed softly, hoping no one was looking, but knowing it didn't really matter. The moment the chief returned she'd be banished or killed.

The boats had long disappeared, as well as her tears, a few hours later. She was still on the plat form just staring out into the sea lost and defeated. Aric walked up to the plat form, and approached her slowly; after a moment he began to speak.

"It's a mess; you must feel horrible. You've lost everything: your father, your tribe, your best friend…"

"Thank you, for summing that up." "…Maybe my dad was right. Maybe the gods didn't curse me, maybe I'm the curse. I've done nothing in my life but make a mess."

"Hiccup, that's not true…and you know it."

She just sighed. "Uggh—why couldn't I just have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods?! Wouldn't it have been better for everyone?"

"Yeah. Most of us would have done it. So, why didn't you?"

Hiccup didn't answer.

"Why didn't you?" he repeated softer.

"I don't know…I couldn't."

"That's not an answer."

"Why is this all so important to you all of a sudden?!"

"Because I want to remember what you say…right here, right now."

"Oh, for the love of—I was a coward, I was weak, I wouldn't kill a dragon!"

"You said _wouldn't_ that time."

"Oh, whatever, I _wouldn't_! Three hundred years, and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon! I'm the first Viking to doom and destroy her _entire_ village because she wouldn't kill a dragon!" she yelled, and turned away from him.

"First to ride one though. So…?"

That made Hiccup pause. The one accomplishment she made, the one thing she did right; how could she forget? And it never would have happened if she hadn't let Toothless go that day. But why did she let him go? She remembered seeing something in his eyes, but at the time she couldn't understand it. Now, though, looking back, she did. She turned back to Aric and answered him.

"I wouldn't kill him, because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him, and I didn't see a mindless beast, _or_ a frightened animal. I saw _myself_."

"Well I bet he's pretty frightened now. So, what are you going to do about it?"

"Eh, probably something stupid."

"Good…but you've already done that."

An idea then popped into her head and her eyes slowly lit up, her ears perking. "Then something crazy." And with that she ran off to the arena.

" _That's_ more like it", he said more to himself before taking off to find the others unbeknownst to Hiccup.

* * *

 **Again, the song is** _ **Don't You Worry About A Thing**_ **sung by Torri Kelly in the movie Sing. Still the slow version (obviously with how she was crying; plus it's supposed to be a lullaby). Did anyone guess this is where you would have found the song come up again? Or how many of you guessed it would have been Stoick singing it when Hiccup is in her coma? I'd honestly love to know (don't you just love these types of games)**


	12. Chapter 12: Preparing For Battle

**This is a bit of a shorter chapter. I was originally going to put the battle in this chapter, but keeping this as its own separate chapter just makes more sense to me layout wise. Sorry if its a little boring.**

* * *

 _ **Preparing For Battle**_

Toothless was on the lead ship with who he deemed to be the alpha since all the other humans on the boat followed his orders. He kept thinking about Hiccup and what the alpha could have done to her after he took her away.

" _ **Why did she tell me to stop? If I had just killed him we wouldn't be in this mess?"**_ he said to himself since the humans couldn't understand him. With Hiccup still barley able to understand him, he felt like he had been doing that a lot the past month.

Hiccup's roar of **'no'** , however,was coupled with the tone of 'distress' and 'fear'. She did _not_ want him to hurt the man. Why? He didn't know; all he knew was that Hiccup must have cared about him in some way, and if she did, then he wouldn't harm him.

They approached the entrance to the Queen's domain and it wasn't too long before he heard her call; she must have sensed him. He tried focusing on his 'sister' and returning to her, trying his very best to block the Queen out.

" **No…"**

" _ **Come"**_ , the call repeated.

" **Ah—Hiccup…"**

He couldn't fight the instinct to obey his Queen for long. Soon there was nothing but the call, following the sound where ever it led.

* * *

Hiccup was in front of the cage that held the Monstrous Nightmare. She was about to let it out when she heard people walk into the arena behind her.

"If you're planning on getting eaten, I'd defiantly go with the Gronckle", Fishlegs said.

"This is where you went?" she asked Aric. He only shrugged playfully.

Tuffnut came close to her—too close. "You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon. It's me" he said.

Hiccup, weirded out, wasn't sure how to respond. Snotlout came to her next. " _I_ love this plan."

"Uh…I didn't—"

"You're crazy. I like that", Ruffnut said in a way that made Hiccup extremely uncomfortable and question the girl's sexuality. Luckily Asrtid pulled her away in the next second.

"So? What is the plan?"

Hiccup looked past her for a moment to Aric and smiled.

* * *

Stoick and his fleet headed further into Helheim's Gate following where the Night Fury's head pointed. He was completely focused on the task of getting to Dragon Island and taking the nest. A dragon head then appeared in the fog, and it made some of the men recoil in slight fear. It was only a wrecked ship, but it was stuck atop a large rock formation that jutted out of the sea having no explanation of how it got there.

"Oh… I was wondering where that went", Gobber commented.

They were approaching the island and as they did, a loud buzzing sound was heard. The boat hit land, and Stoick pushed passed some of his men to get a better look. As he looked up at the mountain he could see a Monstrous Nightmare's tail slither inside.

"We're here."

He jumped out of the boat, onto the island, and the buzzing sound abruptly stopped; it was now deathly quiet. Whatever was making that sound knew he was here.

* * *

Backing out of the Monstrous Nightmare's cage Hiccup had her hand out to the dragon with him following her. All the teens looked at it with amazement, except for Snotlout who was still scared. He picked up a broken spear that was left on the ground, but Astrid caught him. "Uh-uh." He promptly dropped it. Hiccup then moved to her cousin with the Nightmare deeming him to be the perfect partner, and tried to take his hand to replace hers. Snotlout fought a little, pulling his hand away in fear, but soon Snotlout's hand reached the dragon's snout and their bond was created.

"Whe-where're you going?!" he shouted next when she walked away. She was at a box on one of the sides of the arena.

"You're gonna need something to hold onto", she replied taking out some rope as all the other dragons came from their open cages ready to know who they're partner was going to be.

Soon everyone was bonded with a dragon—Snotlout with the Nightmare he decided to name Hookfang, Fishlegs with the Gronckle he named Meatlug, and the twins with the Zippleback they named Barf and Belch. Well, all except for two actually. The only dragon left was the Nadder and Astrid and Aric were bickering over who should ride her.

"I'm the one who helped her come up with this plan."

"You always get everything; and _I'm_ the older one!"

"I do not!"

"Oh yes you do!"

"Guys!" Hiccup interrupted. "Astrid, you'll ride the Nadder with me. Aric, you'll ride with Snotlout."

Aric was about to say something, but Hiccup interrupted continuing.

"Don't worry, once this is over… we can find you your own dragon." _'Given we survive this.'_

* * *

 **What dragon should Aric get and what should his/her name be? Should he get a Nadder like his sis, a Nightmare, or maybe a different dragon all together? My only request is to please be practical. No Skrills; as much as I love the Skrill (it is one of my favorite dragons) it just wouldn't work, nor make sense, for him to have one.**

 **The battle is next. Bear with me on that one, 'cause it may suck. I'm not very good at writing battles or fighting.**


	13. Chapter 13:Final Battle of the Red Death

_**Final Battle of the Red Death**_

Stoick's soldiers were sharpening logs placing them into the ground in angled rows, and loading boulders into catapults as Stoick, with his generals by his side, formed a plan of attack in the sand.

"When we crack this mountain open, all hell is gonna break loose", Stoick said as he finished drawing the plan in the sand.

"And my undies. Good thing I brought extras", Gobber commented.

Stoick, ignoring Gobber, stepped forward ready to give the command. "No matter how this ends it ends today!" He raised his hand, and when he closed it into a fist all the catapults were let loose onto the mountain. One by one the boulders hit the face of the volcano causing it to crack open into a hole. Stoick stepped up to the entrance of the newly formed hole ready for anything. When nothing happened he silently ordered them to launch a fire lit boulder with a slight motion of his hammer. They lit and launched the boulder and as the walls lit up he could see dragons on every inch of space the walls provided.

With a battle cry Stoick went in, prompting the men and few women that made up his army to do the same. The dragons scattered out and flew away avoiding every Viking on the ground no matter how vigorously they swung at the beasts. They all looked out to the dragons confused as they flew away, but then thought of it as a simple victory thinking they must have simply scared them off somehow.

"We've done it!" Spitelout shouted, and every one cheered celebrating.

Stoick, however, didn't. Neither did Toothless knowing why the dragons were fleeing and wanting to flee himself. Stoick saw the Night Fury pulling at his chains trying to get away and realized something else was coming. The dragons didn't fight because something else was going to for them.

"This isn't over! Form your ranks! Hold together!" he ordered as he turned back towards the entrance of the nest once more. Everyone scrambled to get organized, waiting for whatever it was that was coming. What they didn't expect was for a ginormous dragon the size of the mountain itself to come out of the mountain. The Vikings ran and scattered away so they wouldn't be crushed under the weight of the destruction the dragon caused when breaking through the volcano.

"Beard of Thor…what is that?!" Gobber asked.

Stoick was stunned knowing he had made the biggest mistake of his life. "Odin, help us."

The dragon had finally emerged completely letting out a loud roar of its presence and it stomped its feet onto the ground nearly crushing hundreds of people as they kept running.

"Catapults!" Stoick ordered. But when the boulders hit the dragon they were nothing but mere pebbles to it. The only thing they did, was make it mad and attack the contraptions with one snap of its jaw, and one step with its foot.

"Get to the ships!" one Viking said in the attempt for retreat, but Stoick knew the ships would only sentence them to death. "No, no!" he tried to warn them but it was too late. The dragon blasted a huge stream of fire at the ships causing anyone who boarded to jump over board to escape the fire.

"Smart that one", Gobber said.

"I was a fool… lead the men to the far side of the island!" Stoick ordered Spitelout.

"Right. Everybody to the far side of the island!"

"Gobber, go with the men", Stoick continued.

"I think I'll stay just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy."

"I can buy them a few minutes if I give that thing someone to hunt." Gobber stopped him from running off by grabbing his forearm and then his hand in a gesture of friendship.

"Then I can double that time."

They both began to yell for the beast's attention, Stoick throwing one of the logs stuck in the ground at the dragon's face. It looked over to him and began to rear up for an attack, when a blast of fire hit the back of its head. It was the teens all on dragons led by Hiccup and Astrid on a blue and yellow Nadder. Stoick didn't know what to do or say taken back by what he was seeing.

"Look at us we're on a dragon! All of us, we're on dragons!" Tuffnut was shouting enthusiastically.

Gobber moved to Stoick who was still staring speechless. "Every bit the boar-headed, stubborn Viking you ever were." His only response was a nod.

* * *

"Fishlegs break it down", Hiccup said when they circled back around.

"Okay, heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing; stay clear of both. Small eyes, large nostrils; relies on hearing and smell."

"Okay. Aric, Lout, and Legs, hang in her blind spot. Make some noise, keep her confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if she has a shot limit. Make her mad."

"That's my specialty", Ruffnut replied, but Tuffnut objected.

"Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" He turned Belch upside down and began to make irritating sounds.

"Just do what I told you!" Hiccup stressed. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

She left the group to do what she said and flew Stormfly, as Astrid named her, down to the burning ships to find Toothless.

"Don't worry we got it covered!" Snotlout shouted out to her as she flew away.

 **"Hiccup!"**

Hiccup turned to where she heard Toothless, and saw him on a burning ship, still chained up.

"There." She turned Stormfly towards where he was trapped and jumped onto the ship despite the danger. She turned back to Astrid.

"Go help the others! I'll be there soon!"

Astrid left as instructed, and Hiccup turned to Toothless to free him from his restraints. She got his muzzle off first then worked on his chains, but unable to break them.

" **Hiccup, go!"** Toothless told her with his tone being of 'love', 'worry', and 'fear'.

"No way buddy; I'm not leaving you."

Suddenly, the Queen's tail knocked a mast down crashing onto the ship they were on. Hiccup screamed shielding herself with a wing from the flames that came towards her. Not even a moment later did the dragon's foot come crashing onto the ship, breaking it apart and landing the two in the ocean. Toothless, still chained up, sank like a rock to the bottom. Hiccup didn't take moment to come up for air; she swam to her 'brother' and once again tried with all her might to free him. Toothless told her to leave him again, but she wouldn't do it. Eventually, still pulling at the chains, Hiccup was losing oxygen in her lungs and had to come up for air. She still refused to stop though, and she began to lose consciousness. Her pull on the chains weakened and she eventually let go all together, everything going dark, until she was yanked by someone out of the water.

Hiccup was dragged out of the sea and placed on shore. Once there Hiccup coughed up the water she had swallowed. She only saw her rescuer for a second but she could have sworn she saw her father diving into the water.

"Dad?"

* * *

Stoick dived under the sea again for his daughter's dragon she had just risked her own life to save. He swam to the dragon in no time and after only a moment of hesitation he let the Night Fury go. The dragon stared at him for a little while as if contemplating something when he suddenly shot up, grabbed him, and shot out of the water. He dropped him on shore and landed on a rock like a perch turning back to his daughter and telling her something she seemed to understand.

"You got it bud", she said to it.

She ran to the dragon and climbed onto his back preparing to join the fight, but he had to stop her.

"Hiccup", he said grabbing her arm and causing her to pause. "I'm sorry, for-for everything."

"Yeah... me too."

"You don't have to go up there. You don't have to prove anything Hiccup." If anything happened to her Stoick wouldn't know what to do, but Hiccup said something he would have only expected his child to say.

"We're Vikings; it's an occasional hazard."

Stoick should have known she would still want to go. Even if she was different—very different—she was still a Viking, and still his heir.

"I'm proud to call you my daughter", he finally said, her hand in both of his. He then let go, allowing her to go off and fight.

* * *

Hearing those words from her father made her feel the greatest she had ever felt in her entire life. Her father was proud of her. He was actually proud of _her_.

"Thanks dad", she replied in an emotional whisper, taken back, and finally feeling loved after so many years of neglect.

She turned from her father and she crouched down on Toothless, spreading out her wings with him, ready for take-off. They launched into the air and while their wing beats were not in time, they were closer than on their first flight. This time, however, Hiccup wasn't flapping her wings to mimic the action of flying but to allow Toothless more speed with an extra pair of wings.

* * *

"She's up!" Astrid shouted out as she saw Hiccup and Toothless launch.

Aric, next to her, was riding Hookfang while Snotlout was on the mountainous dragon, due to Hookfang losing control from the noise they were making, throwing Snotlout off onto the dragon.

"Come one! Let's get Snotlout out of there!" he said to the twins. They flew towards the dragon, and seeing the oncoming rescuers, Snotlout jumped and landed on Barf and Belch safely.

"I can't believe that worked", Tuffnut said.

Aric tried to follow them, but he was suddenly stopped by a force from behind preventing him from moving forward. He looked back only to see the dragon was trying to suck him and Hookfang into its mouth.

* * *

When they were in the air Hiccup heard Aric screaming, and she saw him on Hookfang being sucked in by the Queen. They raced through the air with great speed, and as they turned to attack and stop her she could hear the Vikings on the ground shouting like they would back at the village.

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!"

They flew close to the Queen and shot the side of her mouth causing her to stop and Aric to be thrown off Snotlout's dragon. He tumbled through the air, and Hiccup and Toothless raced to catch him. They passed where he was falling and Hiccup wasn't sure Toothless caught him with how fast they were moving.

"Did you get him?!" she asked.

Toothless looked underneath himself to see Aric caught in his claws by the boy's foot. He looked up and smiled, and Toothless smiled back.

" **Yes."**

They flew close to the ground and dropped Aric back onto his feet on the sand and away from danger. Once he was safe they went back into the fight. This was now just between her, Toothless, and the Queen.

"Go", she heard Aric say, before they flew out of hearing range.

They were climbing up and Hiccup looked back seeing the dragon actually had wings. "That thing has wings…okay; let's see if it can use them!"

Toothless and Hiccup both tucked their wings in and turned into a dive for the dragon. In the last second, Toothless shot a powerful blast at her causing the Queen to topple over onto her side.

"Think that did it?"

It did; she was chasing them with the intention to destroy them.

* * *

" **You insolent Night Fury! You will regret** _ **ever**_ **turning against me for these pathetic creatures!"**

" **Only if you can catch me"** , Toothless taunted. They had to get her mad enough so she wouldn't think straight leaving herself open. Getting her to abandon the ground was one step in the right direction.

"Well she can fly! But let's see how well."

Toothless knew what Hiccup meant, and raced forward heading for the sea stacks and beginning to maneuver around them with great skill, boosted with some added speed from Hiccup's wings. It all didn't help much to lose her, though, since the Queen just used her size and strength to barrel through the rocky pillars. But, they were at least able to tire her out slightly.

"Okay Toothless, time to disappear."

She clicked his tail fin into position and he acted accordingly heading for the clouds. The Queen was gaining on them, and they needed some way to get the advantage.

"Come on bud!"

Toothless could hear her preparing to fire, and Hiccup must have too. "Here it comes!" she warned. He veered left just as her fire was released missing them. They flew further and further into the clouds until they couldn't be seen anymore. Now with the cloud cover, they had the advantage they needed.

" **You can't hide from me forever little dragon."**

Toothless didn't reply using the fact that she couldn't see them to strike when she least expected it.

" **Where are you?! Come on out and fight!"**

Still all was quite waiting for the right moment. Her back was turned to him, and he and Hiccup both deemed it the perfect time. He shot his plasma blast at the back of her head.

" **Coward!"**

He shot at her wings again and again and again, until he only had one shot left. The Queen, in her fury, had had enough and let out a stream of fire in all different directions determined to find and kill him and Hiccup. Her plan succeeded; they weren't able to completely escape her flames as his prosthetic was caught in the fire.

"Okay times up, let's see if this works."

With no time to lose they had to initiate the last part of their plan. They had to get her to try and fire at them just one more time.

"Come on is that the best you can do?!" she taunted the Queen.

" **You couldn't even hit a Gronckle!"** Toothless added in.

" **Why you little…"**

She came after them in a dive. As they flew downwards further, Toothless could feel his left tail fin burning away.

" **Uh…Hiccup!"**

"Stay with me buddy, we're good; just a little bit longer."

The Queen would fire any moment; it was almost time.

"Hold Toothless", Hiccup said as they heard the sound they'd been waiting for. Only a moment later Hiccup finally told him.

"Now!"

And without hesitation Toothless turned around and fired a plasma blast into the Queen's mouth filled with the gas that ignited her own fire. It caused her to burn from the inside out. Toothless righted himself using his wings to parachute himself out of the way from the Queen's deadly dive that she couldn't stop due to the holes created in her wings from his blasts. She crashed onto the earth with an explosion, and Toothless and Hiccup were nearly caught in it. They flew passed the spines on her back trying to out fly the explosion of fire chasing them when his prosthetic gave out. Her tail was coming at them now, and Toothless had no way now to avoid its collision.

"No. No!"

They were hit, and Hiccup was thrown out of the saddle.

" **Hiccup!"** he called, but she didn't answer, unconscious. He went after her; Toothless was _not_ going to lose her. He flew down to her as fast as he could but it wasn't enough; she was still too far out of reach for his arms. As much as he didn't want to, Toothless had no choice. He opened his mouth, unsheathed his teeth, and grabbed the closest part of her he could which happened to be her leg. After clamping down he quickly pulled her in close so he could shield her from the impact of the fall onto the fiery ground. He was just in time too, as he felt the awful impact only a moment after he pulled Hiccup to safety.

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter sucked; I did my best. Promise the next and final chapter will be better. I am planning on continuing this into a series doing Gift of a Night Fury, some episodes from the TV shows, and of course the second movie. So, ya, don't think the next chapter is the last you'll see of this cast. Also, the dragon for Aric will be revealed in the next chapter, so if you've got a name or a dragon you'd like to suggest for Aric speak now or forever hold your peace.**


	14. Chapter 14: I Am Hiccup

**I only reposted this chapter to take out the song lyrics. No other reason. If you came back: sorry if I confused you. And if you're new: carry on.**

 **The dragon I have chosen for Aric is by Solarwave, as well as the name. You'll see what it is, but I chose it because of how it fits with a theme of hybrids in my story and is also very practical for Aric to train. I'm trying to keep my story practical. I know this is a fan fiction and I could technically do whatever I want, but one of the things I love about HTTYD is how rooted in reality it is despite technically being fantasy and that's what I tried to keep intact. Having him being able to train a dragon Hiccup, in canon, couldn't even fully train just wouldn't make much sense, which is why I said no to Skrills, Whispering Deaths, Titan wing dragons, and any other dragons that we see are much too difficult to train, especially for someone who just learned how to train/befriend dragons.**

 **Anyway, thank you Solarwave for your help. Your dragon is awesome, and I can't wait to write more of her.**

 **Now on with the last chapter of** _ **I am Not a Curse**_.

* * *

 _ **I Am Hiccup**_

The fire from the explosion had died down at last. All that was left was ash in the air floating onto the sand, and Stoick was frantic searching for his daughter.

"Hiccup?! Hiccup! Hun!"

He kept searching through the ash stricken earth and air, until he saw the form of a black dragon on the ground in the distance. He felt his heart miss a beat.

"Hiccup."

He ran to the form almost lying dead as fast as he could. When he got to it, he saw the dragon was breathing but was clearly tired and hurt. His saddle Hiccup made and the prosthetic tail fin in shambles, torn, burned off and broken. What he didn't see was Hiccup; she was nowhere in sight. Stoick could only assume the worse. She was gone. She sacrificed herself to save them; people who had cast her aside all her life because of her size, and wouldn't listen to her when it mattered most because of fear of what she was. Hiccup was gone and it was all his fault. His knees gave out and he crumpled to the floor of soot and ash.

"I did this", he whispered.

If he had only listened to her she would have never had to save them from his mistake. She would still be home, alive and safe. But instead he had failed; he was too stubborn to see she was only trying to make things better. He was too blind and because of him, she was gone. Just as he had vowed to always protect Valka, he had done the same for Hiccup. And just as he had failed his beloved wife, he had failed his only daughter too. Silent tears trailed down.

Everyone came to see where the chief had run to, wondering where their heiress and savior was as well. When the crowd arrived, they saw Stoick mourning his daughter; their chief on his knees before the Night Fury with no Hiccup anywhere to be found. Gobber, Aric and the rest of the teens pushed their way through the crowd. What Aric saw made him gasp in shock, his eyes becoming wet. Everyone's heads went down to mourn the loss of their heiress who nobly sacrificed herself for them even when they didn't deserve it. All was quiet.

Toothless began to wake up, lifting his head to see all of them. His eyes traveled to Stoick who was sitting in front of him, now looking up when the dragon had moved. They stared at each other for a long time; Toothless with tired eyes, and Stoick's with sadness and regret, until he finally said something.

"I'm so-I'm so sorry", the chief said. It was all he could say to the dragon.

Toothless' eyes widened in what looked to be realization and then unraveled his wings to reveal…

"Hiccup!" Stoick exclaimed.

She was wrapped safely in the dragon's arms, her eyes closed as if sleeping. Stoick ran to her and scooped her up in his arms to check on her seeing she was unconscious; at least he hoped she was. He moved her bangs from her face to get a good look at her, but he still couldn't tell. Quickly, he threw his helmet away and checked for a heartbeat. Only a second past before he heard the strong heartbeat of his daughter.

"She's alive. You brought her back alive", he said, his voice breaking slightly.

The crowd of Vikings behind him cheered and the teens were all filled with relief. The dragons that had come back even began to cheer and hop up and down with glee.

Stoick placed a gentle hand on the Night Fury's head, and the dragon tiredly placed his head down. "Thank you, for saving my daughter", he said to him.

"Well…most of her", Gobber, who had just come up, said.

* * *

It was a difficult two weeks. True to Gobber's word Hiccup's left leg, below the knee, had been severely injured to the point where they had to amputate it. She was still unconscious so she probably didn't feel it very much when it was done; however, that was the problem. She wouldn't wake up. Day after day past and there was no sign of life from her besides her steady breathing and heartbeat. But even those feigned away. During one morning Stoick woke up to find Hiccup was freezing cold, her breathing shallow, and her heartbeat slow. He immediately grabbed Gothi, but she couldn't find anything wrong to cause it.

Toothless, however, wasn't worried for her; in fact he was glad, because this state meant she was healing. Due to the severity of Hiccup's injuries, she had clearly fallen into a Dragon's Sleep Coma. It was a state where a dragon's body would focus all its energy into healing the dragon. To the untrained eye, they could appear dead.

The Vikings, of course, didn't know this. So, while the dragons that now inhabited their island were calm and some even happy, Stoick and the tribe were not; they feared she would be dead any day. That is until she began to return to normal on her fourth day in the coma. She had now returned to the state she had been in before, but Stoick still worried she might never wake up.

During this time Aric had found and trained a dragon of his very own. While walking in town one day he had come across a strange looking dragon flying overhead and into a field just outside of town. He followed it there and saw that the dragon had the body of a light blue and black Night Fury, but spikes similar to that of a Nadder's on its tail and head. Using the technique Hiccup taught them, he trained the dragon and brought it back to his friends. There, Fishlegs confirmed it must have been a hybrid like Hiccup; Fishlegs named it a Midnight Nadder. They later found that the Midnight Nadder was a girl, and Aric decided to name her Shadowstar because of the star shape around her right eye. At last he had his own dragon, and it was so much cooler than his sister's normal old Nadder. Astrid wasn't jealous though, no matter how childish her brother became trying to make her be. It wasn't long before he just gave up and returned to his normal slightly annoying self.

* * *

When Hiccup came to, at last, the last thing she could remember was Toothless' tail fin burning off and the Queen's tail coming towards them. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Toothless staring down at her, whining and growling with impatience.

"Hey Toothless", she muttered as he playfully batted and nudged her. He began to nudge even harder after that, unable to contain his excitement, licking her as well. She began to move away from the overly excited dragon, holding a hand up to shield herself slightly.

"Okay, okay, I'm happy to see you to bud. Now just—Ah!" she yelped as he accidently stepped on her stomach, and she wasn't really sure if it was an accident or not, seeing how much Toothless wanted her to **"Get up."** Hiccup shot off of her pillow clutching her stomach, and then her ears went up in shock, her eyes wide to see where she was.

"I'm… in my house. You're…in my house. Does my dad know you're here?!"

Toothless began to run and tear through the house yelling, **"… up, …up, … up!" (Get up, get up, get up)** over and over like a child. Honestly, sometimes Toothless acted more like a child than the grown dragon he was supposed to be. He came up to her again at the foot of the bed ready to lick her again.

She held her hands up to shield herself once again, but then Toothless got the wonderful idea to leap onto the rafters. It only made Hiccup more stressed.

"No…no…Toothless."

 **"What?"** he asked, poking his head down to look at her.

"Aw, come on."

Hiccup made a move to get up, but stopped when she felt something was off. Slowly she peeled back the blanket covering her and she saw her left leg, or, what was left of it. She wasn't exactly sure how to react. Sure, a lot of Vikings in her village had missing limbs; she would be able to get on fine, but that still didn't make it any easier. She had to move forward, though. One by one she placed each foot down on the ground, first her right foot, and then her left foot made from metal and wood.

 **"** … **sorry"** , she heard him say. She didn't know why he was apologizing, but she figured he must have had something to do with her losing part of her leg.

Before she moved any further, she checked her tail; it was still intact, and in perfect condition. She would still be able to learn to fly someday; Hiccup wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse.

She turned back to attempting to stand up and walk. Hiccup took a few deep breaths, Toothless right by her side. She stood, holding on to one of the bed posts preparing herself to take her first step. She moved slightly forward putting just a little wait on her left leg; it hurt, but it wasn't too bad. She decided to be bold, and take one big step. Hiccup took another deep breath, and then stepped forward using her left leg, putting an awful lot of pressure on it. It made her stumble in pain and she immediately fell, but Toothless caught her and proceeded in helping her to the door. Once at the door, she let go of Toothless, and pulled the large wooden door open. She was greeted with the sight of a Monstrous Nightmare, and shut the door with haste and a scream of surprise.

"Toothless, stay here."

 **"When…come out?" (When can I come out?)**

She ignored him, opening the door again, but this time found Snotlout riding the Nightmare with other Vikings on dragons following. Dragons were everywhere, and it looked as if almost everyone had one by their side.

"I knew it, I'm dead."

"No, but you gave it your best shot", her father said, coming up to her laughing, and placing a hand on her shoulder. "So…what do you think?" he asked gesturing to the village.

They began to make their way down towards the town when people noticed her.

"Hey look, its Hiccup!" They cheered and many came towards the chief and heir surrounding them happy to see she was okay.

"Turns out all we needed was a little more of…this", her father said, but when she heard it this time, it sounded less of an insult, and more of praise.

"You just gestured to all of me", she replied, a little taken back. Her father only smiled and nodded in return. Gobber came up just then, pushing passed some villagers.

"Well…most of you. That bit's my handy work, with a little Hiccup flair thrown in. Think it'll do?"

Hiccup picked up her foot as if examining it and replied, "Uh, I… might make a few tweaks."

Everyone laughed at the little joke, and Hiccup smiled at that.

She was then punched in the shoulder. When she turned she saw it was Aric, because of course it was. "That's for scaring me."

"Wha-what, is it always gonna be this way? Cause I…" He stopped her when he pulled her into a kiss.

"I could get used to it", she said a little shocked, but happy, when he pulled away.

Gobber came back with a new saddle and prosthetic and presented it to Hiccup. "Welcome home." She took it and in the next second Toothless came barreling through the crowd.

 **"Now?"**

Aric and Hiccup only laughed at the sight. "Yeah buddy. How about we go flying?"

He ran up to her in excitement and then calmed down a bit to allow her to put the new prosthetic and saddle on. Hiccup got on to test it out; she unfurled the new red tail fin using the mechanism Gobber made to fit her own prosthetic. Now, it was as if they were one. Aric came up, ready to fly, on his Midnight Nadder she would have to ask about later.

"You ready?" she asked Toothless.

 **"Yes"** , he replied.

Hiccup then looked up and out into the village thinking about what she would write in her journal that night.

 _This is Berk._ _It snows nine months of the year and hails the other three. Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so. The only upsides are the pets. While other places have ponies, or parrots…we have…'_

"Dragons", she finished looking down at Toothless with fondness. The four launched up into the sky flying all over the village, finding the other teens along the way and continuing to race. To get further ahead Hiccup spread and beat her own wings to give Toothless a little boost of speed.

 _And I'm one of them. I used to hate this side of me, but not anymore. How could I after meeting Toothless? He showed me what being a dragon truly means, and showed me that I'm not what I, or my father, ever thought I was. I may be small, I may be half dragon, but I am not a nuisance. I'm not a mistake, or, a demon. I am neither a monster, nor, am I a curse! I am Hiccup Haddock III! And that's who'll I'll always be._

Hiccup and Toothless shot up into the sky spinning with a triumphant roar—who made it, no one down below would ever know.

* * *

-Credits Song: _Touch the Sky_ from Brave-

* * *

 **Well that's it for this story. I'll be back with Gift of a Night Fury. See you then.**


End file.
